Graceful Encore
by JenCamp
Summary: MiniJack is all grown up and running the SGC. His life is content until a certain person enters his life and turns it upside down. SamJack
1. Chapter 1

**Graceful Encore**

Summary: MiniJack is all grown up and running the SGC. His life is content until a certain person enters his life and turns it upside down.

Disclaimer: Stargate is not mine. I make no money from this and do it for entertainment purposes only.

a/n: The episode Fragile Balance, is being moved around for this story. Instead of taking place at the beginning of season 7, it took place at the end, right after Janet dies. So, miniJack has all the knowledge of Janet's death, all the knowledge of Sam dating Pete, and all the knowledge of pretty much everything that happened in season 7 up until sometime after Janet's death but before Jack gets the ancient download.

This is a Sam/Jack story all the way. It might not be obvious at first, but trust me.

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**Chapter One:**

Grace Shanahan walked into her parents' two-story colonial in Denver. She was humming, excitement flooding every nerve ending in her body. Closing the door behind her, the smell of lasagna drifted through the air and her stomach growled in response.

Seeing her youngest sister sprawled out in her dad's lazy boy, reading a vanity magazine, Grace picked up one of the dog's stuffed toys laying on the floor and flung it on her sister's lap.

"Eww, Grace! That's gross!" Brooklyn complained in disgust, pinching the wet, grungy toy with two fingers and flinging it back to the floor.

Grace laughed in amusement. "Where's mom and dad?"

"In the kitchen," Brooklyn replied, indignantly.

Grace ignored her teenage sister's attitude and continued through the house to the kitchen.

"Grace, you're back!" her step mom, Renee, announced when she saw the blue-eyed blonde enter the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm back," Grace beamed, a smile donning her face from ear-to-ear.

"Soooooo, how'd it go?" Renee pressed, anxious to find out about the meeting in DC that she had been mysteriously whisked away to a few days before.

"I met the president!" Grace squealed, barely restraining herself from jumping up and down.

"Of the United States?" Renee asked in surprise.

"Uh-huh!" Grace eagerly replied, nodding her head quickly in excitement.

"What did he want?"

"He offered me a job."

"Really? In DC?"

"No, right here in Colorado! Colorado Springs, actually. He wants me to work where my mom worked!" Grace exploded in glee, unable to contain herself, and jumping up and down in girly-squeeness.

"There's no way in hell!" her dad's voice sounded out angrily from behind them. Pete Shanahan walked in the room and slammed the back door shut. "You ARE NOT working at Cheyenne Mountain! Absolutely not!"

"Dad!" Grace whined.

"That is the place that killed your mother, Grace! Is that really where you want to work? They killed her! They took everything from her and then they killed her!" he raged, his voice getting higher and higher.

"Pete," Renee said, her voice calm but raised, trying to get through to her husband.

"Dad!" Grace yelled in anger. "I WANT to work there!"

"NO!" he yelled back.

"I'm 25 years old! I can work wherever the hell I choose, dad! Stop trying to run my life!"

"You are not working there!"

"Yes I am," she said in a low, controlled voice, defiance shining in her eyes. "You refused to let me join the military, claiming it wrecked my mother's life, now you're refusing to let me join a program the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES has asked me to join. I'm sorry dad, I know you've always blamed my mother's job for taking her death, but there is no way I'm passing this up."

"Grace!" Pete barked.

"Dad!" Grace cut off. "I'm going to do this, whether you like it or not! This is something I can do that might bring me closer to my mother. It was what she did, what she loved, and if I can follow in her footsteps, then maybe I can finally find peace with her death."

"You don't want to follow in her footsteps, Gracie! Your mom loved her job, so much so that it took priority over everything. EVERYTHING! Including me and you! Your mom died for her job, not even caring that she had a 2 year old daughter she was leaving motherless. If it weren't for Renee, who knows how we would've ended up! I'm sorry, Grace, but I'm not going to watch you make the same mistakes your mom did. If you take this job, you're no longer welcome here."

Grace gasped at her father's words.

"Pete!" Renee shouted at her husband in anger. Then she turned to Grace with pleading eyes, "Grace."

Grace looked from her dad to her step mom and shook her head. "I'm sorry, mom, I guess I won't be here for dinner," she announced with venom and then stormed out of the room.

"Grace!" Renee yelled after her, then turned back to her husband. "Don't let her leave, Pete! What are you doing?"

"Don't get into this, Renee," he barked at her and flung open the backdoor.

Just then, 20-year old Chelsea came running into the kitchen. "What's wrong with Grace?" she asked worriedly.

"Grace and dad got into a fight," Brooklyn supplied, having heard and witnessed most of the argument herself.

"About what?" Chelsea asked, slightly out of breath.

"Mostly her mom and her new job, I think," Brooklyn returned, walking over and checking on the lasagna after seeing her mom chase after her dad who had fled back out to the backyard.

Grace hopped into her car and sped out of the neighborhood. Hot tears streaking down her flaming cheeks. How could he? How could he still treat her like a child? Like a possession? She didn't blame her mother for never wanting to spend time with him! If he had been that controlling with her, then she completely understood.

Sometimes, Grace really hated her dad. She loved him. He had been a devoted, loving father, but still, she found herself resenting him often growing up, and even more now as an adult. He had insisted on controlling her life. He picked out the private schools she attended. He picked out what boys were appropriate for her to date. He chose the university she attended. He chose the company that she presently worked for. He had refused to let her join the military, something her heart had longed for. He even refused to let her date anyone in the military!

He controlled her life! And, if it wasn't for Renee, he probably would have been even worse. Renee and her dad were married before he ever met her mom. They had fought about his job and how rarely he was ever home, and after a few years, decided on a divorce. It was a short time after that her mom and dad met. A set-up by her Uncle Mark, who she had only met a few times.

Apparently, they had hit it off well, and before they knew it, Grace had been conceived. They got married before Grace was born and, for two years, were a family.

Grace didn't remember her mom. She had only been two when she died. Apparently, she had gone on a mission and never returned. All that was left of her mother was a box in the attic filled with photos, awards, including the purple heart, and various other knick-knacks and memorabilia her mother had.

After her mother's death, her dad was left with a toddler, constantly asking when her mommy was coming home. Not knowing who else to turn to, and refusing help from his wife's friends, Pete moved back to Denver and asked Renee for help.

Renee helped Pete with Grace, and eventually, the two realized how much they still loved each other. They remarried, and when Grace was five, her sister, Chelsea joined the family. Three years later, Madison was born and three years after that, to everyone's surprise, Brooklyn arrived.

The three girls looked very similar, with dark hair and green eyes. Chelsea and Brooklyn looked almost identical to their mother, who was an attractive woman in her day. Madison had her dad's stockiness, but still held her mom's feminine looks.

Which really made Grace stand out growing up with her 5'9" frame, blonde hair and brilliantly bright blue eyes. Grace looked absolutely nothing like her dad. So, she assumed she looked like her mother, and looking at the limited photographs she had of her mother, she couldn't deny the claim. She really did look exactly like her mother. It was one thing that connected her to her mother, and she relished in it.

Grace arrived at her small apartment and made her way inside. She locked her door behind her and continued on to the kitchen, her stomach still growling for food. After searching her cupboards, and finding a box of cheez-its, Grace plopped down in her favorite chair and ate half the box for dinner.

She was still angry at her dad, and she knew she had the right to be. A part of her, a large part of her in fact, felt relief at being disowned by her dad. She could never remember a time where she felt as though she fit in with her family. She didn't look like them, she didn't act like them, she didn't like any of the same things they liked. She had been the odd-ball of the family her whole life. Her dad had forced her to do the things he wanted her to do, and she did, but she never liked them. Her sisters always did. Her sisters were into make-up and dating, they were all three solid C-students, and they knew the names of all the characters on all the daytime soap operas.

Grace, on the other hand, wore minimal make-up, rarely dated, she had loved school, even skipped two grades, was the valedictorian, she loved to watch educational shows like the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. She loved being outdoors, swimming, hiking, rock-climbing. She was a complete contrast to her family. When she went off to school, she had plans on moving far away from them so she wouldn't be reminded everyday at how different she was from them, but her dad had other plans. And, Grace hated upsetting anyone, so she relented to her dad, and continued to let him run her life.

She never expected him to control it for so long.

And now, she had had enough. This was her life, damn it! And, she was taking this job. She wanted this job.

Tossing the box of cheez-its on to the coffee table, Grace stood up, swept her hand over her clothes to knock off the crumbs and started packing. A smile sweeping across her face as she felt a heavy burden finally lift off her chest.

She was finally starting her own life.

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General Jack O'Neill strolled down the corridors of the SGC on the way to his office. He was itching to get out of his dress blues, but Hailey had hired a new scientist for the SGC and he wanted to make a good impression on her first day. Why? He had no idea, but Hailey had insisted she was brilliant and would be a huge asset to the program.

Ever since General Hailey had taken over the realms of Homeworld Security, they had been looking for a competent scientist to take her place at the SGC. She had run the base, and overseen research and development for five years, but when Mitchell decided to retire from his position as the leader of Homeworld Security, the president insisted Hailey take his place.

Which was a great decision on the president's part, but still left the SGC with a hole in its program. Jack had been promoted to general and put in charge of the SGC, but he was a far cry from the scientist they were looking for to cover the other half of Hailey's responsibilities.

His second time around had involved several science courses, but he had no intention of actually using his knowledge for anything other than understanding the jibberish coming out of the scientists' mouths.

He entered his office, his eyes sweeping the room, the familiar old picture of the original SG-1 catching his eye on the wall. He sighed. He missed them. Even though he had lived the last 26 years as another person, another life, they were still his team, and he missed them.

He had insisted on keeping his name. And, knowing he would grow up to look exactly like himself, the air force had agreed, simply adding a junior to the end of his name and fabricating a birth certificate claiming he was his own son.

It was weird.

When he first considered reliving his life, he was a little excited. But, after two days in high school, the realization that he was the same age Charlie would have been really hit hard, and his excitement was gone. The cute teenage girls he had seen on the front lawn when the original version of himself dropped him off were in a whole new light now. He couldn't date these girls!

It was wrong.

He had been at the school for a couple of months when Molly Johnson had backed him up beside the gym bleachers and kissed him. Molly Johnson! The same Molly Johnson who was on Charlie's t-ball team when they were five years old. Visions of Molly with pig-tails and a lop-sided baseball cap had flooded Jack's mind, and when the memory of her little girly voice rang in his ears, "Mr. Charlie's dad, will you play catch with me," he pushed her away and ran as fast as he could.

He transferred to a different school after that, and went straight to the Air Force Academy after graduation. General Kerrigan was aware of his predicament, and the general was a god-send to Jack. He made sure Jack's second time around didn't feel like a boring re-run and Jack found himself finally back in his element.

As a cadet, he had met an attractive older woman and had dated her for a few weeks. But, when she commented on their relationship and mentioned how it was like the movie, "The Graduate," and she was Mrs. Robinson, Jack abruptly broke it off.

He was nothing like the graduate.

He had been transferred to the SGC immediately following his graduation from the Academy. With all his experience, he climbed the ranks quickly, and it was no surprise when he became general of the SGC at the young age of 39. He deserved it more than anyone. He did, in all honesty, have the most experience and knowledge, most of which was learned in a different body, but it was still his experience and knowledge, nonetheless.

His phone rang loudly in his office and Jack's eyes moved from the SG-1 photo to the ringing annoyance. Walking to his desk, he picked up the receiver. "O'Neill."

"Sir, the new scientist is on her way to your office now."

"Thank you, sergeant," Jack said before hanging up. He adjusted his tie and straightened his jacket, still intent on making a good impression.

A light knock on the door caught his attention and he cleared his voice and called out, "Enter."

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who walked into his office was not at all who he was expecting.

His eyes widened in surprise at the same time his face paled as if he had seen a ghost. And, that was exactly what was running through his mind at that time. She was a ghost!

"C-Carter?" he stuttered in shock.

"Sir?" Carter's voice replied and Jack felt his two perfectly-healthy knees weaken. "Carter," he gasped, his body wanting to crumple to the floor.

Grace couldn't explain it. The moment her eyes met those of the man before her, she felt her whole world shift. It was as though her life had finally clicked into place. This man was important to her. She didn't know why or how or even who he was, but she knew he was important to her

Grace shook her head, as if shaking herself back to reality. "I'm Grace. Dr. Grace Shanahan, I was told to report to you, sir," an unsure voice, sounding just like Carter's cut through the heavy air.

Grace.

Grace……Shanahan.

Shanahan…..Pete.

This was Carter's kid! Holy shit! How could she look so much like Carter? "Grace," Jack repeated, his heart beating painfully hard in his chest. "You, you look just like your mother," he choked out.

"You…..knew my mother?" she quietly asked, her big blue eyes searching Jack's and sending familiar, old pangs of desire through his body.

Jack nodded, trying to recover from the shock of Carter's ghost walking through the door. "Yeah," he coughed out.

"How?" Grace asked. This man couldn't be more than forty and that would mean he was only a kid when her mom died, how could he know her?

Jack sighed. "It's a long story. What do you know about the Stargate so far?"

"Nothing. Just that this is where my mom worked."

"That's it?" Jack asked in disbelief. "They didn't tell you anything else?"

Grace shrugged. "They said I would be informed of everything once I arrived."

Jack groaned. He hated doing the whole…In the 1920's in Giza, Egypt, Dr. Langford….blah, blah, blah speech. After 33 years of hearing and saying the speech, it got really old.

But, nevertheless, it was now his responsibility to fill her in. He guided her to the briefing room, grabbing the file on his desk. As soon as she was debriefed he was calling a certain general and giving her an earful. She could've warned him who the new scientist was!

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	2. Chapter 2

-a/n: (Forgot to add this to ch. 1) Not everything in this story is as it seems. Although, I'm not exactly calling this a mystery, because chances are, most people will figure out what is going on before it is revealed, I'm also not coming right out and telling anyone because not knowing goes along with the plot. With that said, I am perfectly okay for people to give their ideas of what is going on in reviews, but I will not be responding to any of the guesses, whether they are right or wrong. Most of the questions that were asked already will be revealed as the story unravels, but the big one won't be revealed until the end.

Okay, I hope everyone likes chapter two!

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**Chapter Two:**

Instead of taking his normal seat at the front of the briefing table, Jack sat opposite Grace. As he slid the file across the table to her, her gaze fell to the TV stand next to the table.

Jack cleared his throat. "There's a video that explains the Stargate Program in great detail…"

Grace nodded.

"…Only, the thing is…..Jennifer didn't tell me who the scientist was that she hired." Jack cleared his throat again and looked up at the solid apparition before him. "It was made a few years into the program…..and…..your mom is in it. We can skip it….."

"No, it's okay, really," Grace's soft voice interrupted.

"Sure?" Jack's gentle voice asked, sending a feeling of déjà vu to course through the young woman's mind. Had she dreamed this? Why did this seem so familiar to her?

"I'm sure," she replied, her eyes locking on the soft brown ones of her new boss.

Jack nodded minutely and coughed once again. "Okay," he said absently and picked up the remote that had been laying on the table.

A second later the Stargate was shown on the television, activated and glowing in all its glory. Grace was impressed. She watched the display in appreciation, but after only a few seconds, the stargate scene changed to a scene that was obviously recorded in the same room they were in now and a voice, her voice, came over the speakers just before her mother's form took shape on the screen.

Grace watched her mother on the screen. She had introduced herself as Major Samantha Carter. Her hair was short, much shorter than Grace's hair had ever been. Without realizing it, Grace ran a hand through her short locks in a self-conscious gesture. Her hair was just to her shoulders, is that what she would look like if she cut it that short?

Jack watched the woman across the table, a warmth he hadn't felt in so long filling his body. Had he finally done something right? Had karma finally shifted from bad to good? He had her back. Looking across the table at her, it was like the last 30 years had never taken place. Before him was the young, captain he had grown to admire, respect and love.

Then, as if an invisible force had come in and burst his bubble of euphoria, he remembered that good things did not happen to Jack O'Neill. This woman, she was not Samantha Carter. This woman was her daughter. This woman, as much as she looked like Carter and reminded him of Carter, she was the creation of that cop, she was what was created when Carter had finally walked away from him to get a life. And now, here she was, in his life, a constant reminder that Carter was gone and was never his at all.

Grace watched her mother on the screen. She was wearing blue pants and a long-sleeved matching blue shirt with an SG-1 patch on the sleeve. She was elegant. Even in the drab briefing room, dressed in military attire, her mother was the epitome of elegance, and Grace smiled warmly as she watched her.

"She was beautiful," slipped from her tongue just above a whisper and it took several seconds before she even realized it was her who had voiced the words.

"Yes," the warm voice of the general returned, his eyes turning from the screen and locking on the woman before him. "She was….and you look just like her."

Grace hadn't expected the compliment and a blush quickly spread across her cheeks. She lowered her head to hide her embarrassment and Jack felt his stomach twist at the familiar sight.

Not knowing what to say, and finding herself attracted very much to the older man, Grace swallowed down the lump in her throat and diverted her eyes back to the screen.

Jack followed her lead, and soon got caught back up in watching the real Samantha Carter light up the screen with all the techno babble he missed more than he'd ever admit.

With her position across the table, Grace was able to watch both the screen and the general across from her. She saw the way he looked at her mother, the haunted look in his eyes, and she knew he had somehow known her mother very well. It was almost heartbreaking watching the man, if he ever had a mask of indifference, it seemed to have shattered when the video began. Not for the first time, Grace felt envious of her mother. She had had this man in her life, of that Grace was sure of. What kind of relationship or feelings they shared, Grace had no idea, but she had him, nonetheless, and Grace, for probably the millionth time, wished she was her mother. The woman had lived a wonderful, amazing life, there was no denying that.

Jack turned back to Grace when the video had ended and was surprised when he found her staring at him. He smiled, but got no reaction from the woman. Her eyes were on him, but her mind was miles away. Jack's smile turned into a smirk as he watched the woman, wondering where she was and what was running through that brilliant brain she inherited from her mother.

He cleared his throat to get her attention and his smirk returned as he watched her eyes refocus on him and her cheeks darken to a pretty shade of dark pink.

"Did you get all that, or do you want to watch it again?" he asked in amusement, expecting her to apologize for drifting off and asking to watch it again.

"I got it all, thank you," she replied softly.

Jack's eyebrow arched. "You did?" he asked in disbelief.

Grace's eyes took in the surprised look of the general and she passed him her own little smirk. "The stargate was discovered in the 1920's in Giza, Egypt, it forms an artificial wormhole between two stargates. The distance of the stargates directly reflect the amount of power needed to form a stable wormhole between the two devices. Normally, the different power requirement from one stargate to the next is only a small difference, but to travel to another galaxy, the power requirement is much larger. The Stargate network, along with many other alien devices were created by a race of people known as the Ancients. The Ancients were an advanced race of humans who had evolved so far that they were able to shed their physical bodies and live on as pure energy. We also have alien allies, the Asgaard, who are the famous Roswell grey aliens, the tok'ra, and the Nox. And, a few more technical things that I'm sure you don't want me to go in to," Grace ran off.

"Wow! You really were paying attention," Jack exclaimed in surprise.

Grace smiled, her cheeks burning once again.

"Uh, yeah, we also have the Free Jaffa as allies, the Furlings, and a few others you'll get to know soon enough. The video's kind of outdated, but no one can explain the stargate like Carter," Jack added, scratching his head, a note of pride in his voice.

Grace bit her bottom lip, once again scrutinizing the man across from her and wondering exactly what his relationship with her mother had been. She figured it would be highly inappropriate to ask, at least not until she knew the man a little better.

Before Jack could continue further, there was a knock on the door and a woman who looked to be in her early forties with light brown hair pulled back at the nape of her neck and wearing a white lab coat, walked into the room. "Jack, I got your message about SG-23's required physicals and oh…my…God!" the woman finished, her mouth left opened when she saw Grace in the room.

"Cassie, you remember Carter's daughter Grace," Jack quickly announced, making sure his friend didn't have the same reaction to "Carter's ghost" as he had.

"Oh my God!" Cassie repeated, staring in disbelief at the beautiful woman before her.

Grace watched as the older woman's eyes filled with tears and all of a sudden, an old memory flashed before her eyes. "I remember you," she whispered up to the woman.

Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat and looked down at the familiar-looking woman before her. "You do?" she asked, her voice tight from the threat of tears.

Grace nodded her head, her innocent eyes gazing up at the distraught woman. "I was young, my dad and I were coming home from seeing my baby sister, Chelsea at the hospital, you were sitting on our front porch. He told me to stay in the car and he went up to you. You were both screaming at each other. I got out of the car and my dad screamed at me to go in the house, but you stopped me and hugged me and told me you loved me."

A tear escaped Cassie's eye and ran down her cheek. She sniffled and brushed the offending droplet away. "I can't believe you remember that," she sighed. "Your mom was like a mother to me, and you were like a little sister. She never wanted Pete to take you away from us. We were your mom's family, and he wouldn't let us have anything to do with you." Another tear raced down Cassie's face as she remembered the grief of Sam's death and the heartbreak of not just losing Sam, but Grace as well.

"Uh," Jack's voice sounded in the somber air and pulled everyone's thoughts back to the present. "We were just finishing with the introduction, I actually have a call to make to Hailey, how about you show Grace around base and introduce her to the science department, make sure she gets a lab, lunch?"

Cassie looked at the file in her hand and remembered that she had originally come looking for Jack to complain about being short-handed and wanting to postpone physicals until the next week. She looked down at the blonde woman who looked so very much like the woman who had rescued her and become a huge part of her life so many years ago, and desperately wanted to spend more time with her. She had always felt like she had let Sam down by not being there for her daughter, and now here she was, and Cassie could finally make it up to her. "Sure, as long as we can postpone SG-23's physicals until Dr. Richardson gets back from vacation."

"Deal," Jack said with a smirk and Cassie smirked back.

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Cassie led Grace through the base on a grand tour. They visited the control room, gate room, infirmary, Cassie introduced her to the scientists, who promised to have a lab for her by the end of the day, and then Cassie showed her to the commissary, where both women filled their trays with a nice-sized lunch and took a seat.

"So, are you all unpacked," Cassie asked, taking the last bite of her sandwich.

"Uh, no, actually. Everything happened so fast, I haven't even moved yet. As soon as I can, I'm going to start looking for an apartment, but until then, I'll just be commuting between here and Denver."

"Ouch," Cassie said, thinking of the long drive and long hours the woman was likely to work. "We have on-base quarters. A few years ago they dedicated an entire level to quarters. We'll get you a room and you can stay on-base until you can find an apartment, it's what most people do…..if you want to," Cassie added at the end, not wanting to sound pushy.

Grace smiled. "Yeah, that actually sounds much better than driving back and forth everyday."

"Great," Cassie exclaimed and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "We can go there now and get you a room."

Grace nodded. "Okay," she said and stood up with Cassie.

The two women left the infirmary and headed up to level 17. Grace was surprised when they exited the elevators and saw the blue paneled walls with a homeyness not present on the rest of the base.

Cassie saw the surprise in the woman's eyes and grinned. "They remodeled this floor years ago to make it more comfortable and homelike. It's not uncommon for people to get stuck on base for days on end for various reasons. There is a rec room with vending machines, a pool table, ping pong tables, video games, you get the idea."

Grace nodded, a smile on her face as she listened to the older woman talk. But then, a large poster-sized framed picture on the wall caught her attention and the smile fell from her face.

Cassie felt the woman tense beside her and stop in the middle of the corridor, perplexed, Cassie turned around to face the woman, wondering what caused the quick change. Her eyes followed Grace's gaze and fell on the old picture on the wall.

The picture had been on the wall since the remodeling was completed, and over the years, it had blended into the background and was overlooked by the medical doctor whenever she was roaming the corridor. Cassie looked at the familiar team picture of the original SG-1. The photograph had been the first team photo, taken right after the joint chiefs had approved Teal'c's status on the team.

Sam was in the middle, with Jack slightly behind her and to her left. Daniel was next to her and Teal'c was behind both scientists. Cassie smiled at the sight of Teal'c. Over the years, he had changed so much and whenever Cassie saw the old pictures of him, she was always surprised by how 'alien' he looked back then. So different from how he looked nowadays.

But, glancing back at the shocked blue eyes of the woman next to her, Cassie knew it wasn't Teal'c's alien features that had the woman speechless. She looked back at the photograph and her eyes rested on the original Jack O'Neill. "Oh!" Cassie said in understanding. She raised her hand and pointed at the picture of Jack. "That is the original Jack O'Neill, the one you met this morning isn't him."

"What?" Grace croaked out barely above a whisper, still very much confused.

"The Jack O'Neill from this morning is his clone." Cassie pointed at Jack's picture again. "This one is the original, about 25 or so years ago now, the Asgaard cloned him and the clone is the one who is now running the SGC. The original Jack O'Neill was your mom's commanding officer for 8 years, they were very close," Cassie finished quietly.

Grace turned her baffled blue gaze to Cassie. Clearing her voice, she asked, "So, the clone doesn't age?"

"What?" Cassie asked in surprise.

"The clone looks just like this photo. He hasn't aged."

"Ohhhhh!" Cassie stretched out as realization dawned. "No, he does age, uhh, this is kind of hard to explain without you reading any mission files and reports yet, but I'll try. You see, it was a rogue Asgaard who cloned him, wanting to study his genetics, but the other Asgaard had already put something in Jack so that if someone tried to clone him, it wouldn't work properly. When the rogue Asgaard cloned him, he only progressed to a teenager. We later discovered his body was that of a fourteen year old. He's been aging since then."

"What was the point of only allowing him to grow to a teenager?" Grace asked, intrigued.

Cassie shrugged. "Haven't a clue, Jack wasn't too happy about it?"

"Which one?"

Cassie chuckled. "Well, both, actually."

"So, the clone received all the same memories as the original?"

Cassie nodded. "Yes, actually, from what I understand of Asgaard technology, the Asgaard copy the body and the consciousness. The body had been tagged, so it only grew so far, but the consciousness was copied in its entirety. Jack Jr, by the way, don't ever call him that if you want to live, has all the same memories as the original, up to the time he was cloned.

Grace nodded in understanding. "So, the Jack we were with this morning, he has eight years of working with my mom?"

This time, it was Cassie's turn to nod. "Seven, actually, but yeah, he does."

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Jack paced his office as much as the phone line would allow him to go. "Hailey, that was a low-blow," he said as soon as Major General Jennifer Hailey came on the line.

"Jack, I'm sorry, but I knew you would try to fight me on it."

"You still could have warned me. Did you see her? She looks just like her!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, Jack, I really am. But, I couldn't let you try and fight me on this. We need her. She's brilliant. Her IQ is higher than mine and her mother's."

Jack remained silent on his end of the phone, listening to Hailey give her reasons for not telling him about Grace.

"We've been fighting the Ori for over two decades, I really think Grace is going to be a huge asset to figuring out how to finally defeat them.."

"Yeah…..right," Jack said disheartening.

"Jack, she has an understanding of wormhole physics that is unbelievable. Up until today, she knew absolutely nothing about the Stargate program, yet every theory and equation she's created has been spot on with our knowledge of the Stargate. She's incredible."

"I remember Carter saying the same thing about a certain cadet," Jack pointed out.

"No, Jack, this is nothing like what Colonel Carter saw in me. Nothing. Sam saw potential in me, but my theories were wrong, Grace's are perfect. Without any knowledge of the program, she understands it. I don't know how, but we would be foolish not to use her expertise."

"So, what do you want me to do with her?" Jack asked, his voice sounding very tired to Jennifer.

It was at that moment that Hailey remembered way back when she was only a young lieutenant, a rookie at the SGC. On her very first day, she had heard the rumors stating that there was something between the second-in-command of the base, Col. Jack O'Neill and his second-in-command, Major Samantha Carter. It was Sam who had saved her military career and gotten her into the SGC, so she had ignored the rumors, going off on the insolent airmen who obviously didn't know what they were talking about. But, it didn't take Hailey long at all to see the bond between the two senior officers. She was still sure they weren't sleeping together, but there was definitely something very strong between them.

"I'm sorry, Jack, I know this must be hard on you," she said softly over the line.

Jack ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Yeah, it's screwing with my head, big time, but I'll manage, if this is really what you want."

"I really think it's our best option, Jack. Go ahead and start giving her all the mission reports, starting with SG-1, she should know how important her mother was to the program."

"About that," Jack cut in. "What am I supposed to say when she asks about her death?"

Jennifer sighed. "The truth. Once she understands who the Ori are, she should understand."

"Yeah," Jack said with a dry laugh. "I'm sure she'll be quite understanding when she learns she is now working for the same people who lied about her mother's death."

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	3. Chapter 3

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Three:**

Grace looked around her new lab, holding her coffee cup securely in her hands. The quarters that had been assigned to her were much more comfortable than she ever would have expected, but still Grace had a difficult time sleeping. Weird dreams had awakened her frequently throughout the night.

Each time she had awakened, her dreams were crystal-clear, and although weird, had made perfect sense to her. However, as soon as the morning arrived and Grace pulled herself out of her new bed, she was disappointed to discover that her dreams had fallen just beyond reach in her consciousness. No matter how hard she concentrated, she just could not remember what had seemed so important in the darkness of the night.

Sighing, Grace turned around and tensed when she saw the general standing in the doorway. "Hi," she croaked out sleepily.

The general smirked. "Sleep well?" he asked, a smile still evident on his face as he made his way into her lab.

Grace ran a hand lightly over her forehead and set her coffee cup down on the lab table. "Weird dreams," she supplied as an answer.

"Ahh," Jack replied knowingly. "Anything I'd be interested in?"

Grace shook her head and smiled warmly at the general. "I can't remember."

"Ack, I hate that," he teased, his smile increasing then slowly retracting as his eyes locked on hers and years of moments just like this with Carter flashed before his eyes in seconds.

Grace held his gaze, a familiar sensation that she could not place tickling her spine.

"Uhh," Jack finally broke the spell. "I, uh, had an airmen bring down all of SG-1's mission files and all the information we have on the Ori." Jack motioned to a corner where several boxes aligned the wall. "Once you finish with SG-1, you can go on to other mission files."

Grace looked at the boxes against the wall. "Oh, okay, thank you," she said softly. "I'll get right on it."

"Great," Jack said, slapping his hands together, all of a sudden feeling exposed. "I'll, uh, just be going…now…..things to do…..a base to run." Jack flapped his arms around in a self-conscious gesture and backed up towards the door.

Grace grinned shyly. "Okay, sir, see you later."

Jack nodded, then abruptly turned on his heel and fled the room. Berating himself for the unprofessional feelings coursing through his body.

For the next few weeks as Grace read through the mission files of SG-1, her dreams continued to wake her up at night, then slip back into the unknown by morning. Had she not had her mind preoccupied on the mission reports and information and technology of the Ori, she might have spent more time focused on trying to remember her dreams, but as it was, she was spending very little time worrying about such trivial things as dreams.

In the few weeks she had been on base, she had already made new friends with the SGC staff. She and Cassie spent quite a bit of time together and Grace had even been to her house twice now for dinner with her husband, Col. Mike Bryant of the present SG-1, and their daughter, six-year old Janet, who they nicknamed Janie.

General O'Neill had been a pleasant distraction in her lab frequently as well. He would come in and mess around with whatever was in reach and chit-chat with her for half an hour or so, then drag her down to the commissary for another hour before leaving her alone to get some work done.

As much as she would tease him about hiding from his work in her lab, she thoroughly enjoyed spending the time with him and anxiously awaited his arrival everyday.

She was working on a piece of Ancient technology that had been brought back from Atlantis in hopes that it could help them in their fight against the Ori when he arrived, right on time, for their "chit-chat."

"Hey," he softly announced his presence, leaning against the doorframe of her lab.

Grace looked up and grinned. "Hey, yourself."

He nodded at the doohickey in her hands. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked as he made his way into the room.

"Dr. Nichols asked me to see what I could make of this."

"Any luck?"

Grace lowered her gaze to the device and sighed. "No, not really, It's interesting though."

"Yeah, I bet," he teased.

Grace grinned back and the two fell into the comfortable chatting they had grown accustomed to in the few short weeks they had known each other. Before long, Jack tapped his watch and announced "lunchtime" and the two headed off to the commissary.

Standing in line behind Grace, Jack saw the chef approaching from the other side of the lunch counter. "General O'Neill, the shipment of blue jello you ordered arrived," he told Jack, pointing to the dessert cabinet.

Grace's face brightened and turned to Jack. He motioned for her to get some.

She opened the cabinet and set the glass filled with blue jello on her tray. "You ordered this for me?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," he told her, smiling brightly.

Grace crinkled her eyebrows. "How'd you know I like blue jello?"

Jack's smile turned to a smirk. "Lucky guess?" he teased and shrugged his shoulders.

Grace scrutinized the man, biting her bottom lip and squinting as if it would give her a clearer picture of the man standing before her. After a few seconds it was obvious that Jack wasn't giving anything away and she turned back around and finished filling her tray with lunch.

The two took their seats at their usual table and were soon joined by Cassie and Mike. The four chatted and ate for a good hour before they all broke off and headed back to their posts.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Grace had read mission report after mission report on the infamous SG-1. She read all about the wonderful exploits of the original Jack O'Neill and she was finding it hard to differentiate between the original and the one who she was getting more and more familiar with.

As she walked down the corridor, she saw the general walk out of the men's locker room and she decided she would finally bite the bullet and ask the man the question she had been wondering since reading the very first mission report to Abydos.

"General!" she called out and saw Jack stop and turn around.

"Doctor," he greeted back, the familiar warm smile lighting up his face. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh, actually, I wanted to ask you a question," she stumbled out, falling in step with the general.

"Sure, ask away," he told her cheerily, continuing his steps down the corridor.

"Uh, well, it's….." Grace stared at the general as he started patting his civilian clothes and a frown creased across his handsome face. "What?" she asked him.

"I must have left my keys in the locker room," he told her and motioned for her to follow him.

Grace followed Jack to the door of the men's locker room, then stared at him as he held the door open for her.

"I'm just grabbing my keys," he told her.

She kept staring at him.

Jack sighed. "I was just in here, there is no one else in there, come on," he pressed.

Grace sighed and finally followed the general into the men's locker room. She followed him over to his locker, her eyes searching the room for any reason to bolt.

Jack opened his locker, and the squeak of the metal door opening caught her attention and she looked back at the general.

She stared at the general, that feeling of déjà vu hitting her yet again. With wide eyes, she looked from the general at his locker, to the bench behind them and back to the row of lockers.

Jack had noticed the strange behavior of the woman and watched her in curiosity.

Grace caught his eyes, her eyes still wide in wonderment. "This is where it happened!" she exclaimed.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"This is where she attacked you…when, when she was infected with that virus from the Land of the Light. You, you were standing at your locker and she attacked you and pulled you down on this bench."

Jack's eyes were now as wide as hers in disbelief. "How do you know that?" he asked her, his voice rising in apprehension.

Grace shrugged. "I don't know. I must have read about it."

Jack grabbed her arms. "I don't remember any mission report being that descriptive."

Grace's eyes locked on his and Jack felt remorse when he saw the flash of fear cross her face at his sudden attack. Slowly, he let go of her, his eyes still keeping hers.

"I just, when I read the reports, I just, I could see it happening, as if I was there. I don't know, I can't explain it. I guess the reports are more descriptive than you remember."

Jack sighed and backed away from Grace. Running his hand through his hair, he sat down on the bench in defeat. "Yeah, maybe," he sighed and looked back up at the blonde scientist. "What was it you wanted to ask?"

Grace, still trying to recover from the unexpected response of the general, tried to reorganize her thoughts.

"Grace?" Jack questioned when the silence started to become unbearable.

Grace shook her head and cleared her throat. "I was just….I was just wondering what happened to you…him, the other you, original, whatever," she finished her stammering and raised her flushed face to meet his gaze.

She was taken aback when she saw the deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. A part of her wanted to just say forget it, whatever had happened to him was obviously not something he wanted to talk about, but a much larger part of her couldn't pass up the opportunity to find out. She had built up the nerve to ask the question, now she just had to wait him out for the answer.

"Uh, he's gone," Jack finally managed to get out. His voice weak-sounding in the quiet room.

"For how long?" she asked anxiously.

Jack's eyes locked on hers, so much passing from him to her, so much of it not understood by the young scientist. "He, uh, he's been gone almost as long as your mom. He……went after her….to find her."

Grace felt all the wetness evaporate from her mouth, leaving behind a painfully dry mouth and throat. Almost in a croak, she asked, "He went after my mom?"

Jack nodded, his head dropping down and his shoulders slumping.

Grace thought back to the reports she had already read. She had read that at the time of her mother's death, Major General O'Neill was running Homeworld Security in DC. "Why him?" she asked, her voice crackling from the dryness. "Wasn't he in DC? Why didn't he send someone else after her?"

Jack ran his hands over his face, still keeping his body hunched over. He sighed deeply, wishing Thor would stop by and beam him up just for the hell of it. "He did, others did go look for her, but they couldn't get to her, the rescue missions had to be called off. He went after her on his own when the others failed."

"Why?" Grace croaked out, even though deep-down she knew the answer.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "How the hell should I know?" he barked in irritation. "She was a member of his team, he'd never leave her behind."

"He loved her," Grace whispered as the realization swam to the front of her mind.

Jack shifted nervously in his seat on the bench. "SHE was a member of his team, he would have done the same for Daniel or Teal'c. I don't know what you're searching for, but your not getting it from me! I'd been on my own for three years before he left, I can't say one way or the other why he did it." With that, Jack stood up and tried to make his escape.

Grace reached out and grabbed his arm. "What about you? What would you have done?" she asked quickly, her eyes refusing to allow his to look away.

"I was still in high school at the time," he said dismissively.

"If you'd have known," she pressed. "If they would have called you in, what would you have done?" she asked almost desperately.

Jack's nostrils flared in anger, his heart and mind fighting amongst each other as to whether or not to tell the girl what she wanted. "I would have went after her!" he finally growled at her, his body turning rigid in her grasp.

"Because you loved her?" Grace whispered, her eyes identical to her mother's, staring up at the distraught general.

Jack's jaw locked in response, refusing to answer the woman.

"She loved you too, didn't she?" Grace asked, her eyes softening and filling with unshed tears.

Jack pulled away from Grace. "I don't know what you're searching for, but your mom loved you and your dad. She never cheated on him."

"I wasn't implying that she did," Grace quickly answered. "But, as weird as it sounds, I think I'm starting to understand my mom. I understand why she spent so much time here, away from my dad. It was because of you, him, whatever. No wonder my dad hates this place so much. He knew all along. He knew she loved you."

"Stop it!" Jack barked. "This conversation is over, doctor," he growled, his eyes flashing in anger before he turned and stomped out of the room.

Grace leaned against the locker and closed her eyes. She understood it now. Everything seemed so clear to her.

They had loved each other.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"What the hell did you tell her!" Jack roared, slamming the door shut violently to Cassie's office.

"What are you talking about?" Cassie yelled in surprise, her heart beating ferociously by the unexpected intrusion.

"What did you say to Grace? How does she know how we felt about each other?"

"I don't know," Cassie replied, her voice taking on an edge of anger at the accusation. "I haven't said anything about the two of you, why?"

Jack sighed, his hands scrubbing at his face and hair as he paced the small office space. "She confronted me, asked where the original was, asked if he went after her because he loved her."

Cassie's eyes widened in surprise. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her I didn't know!" he barked in irritation.

Cassie rolled her eyes, over the years she had become way too familiar with Jack's tantrums.

"Then she asked me if I would have gone after her."

"And you said yes," Cassie supplied.

"Then she accused me of loving her," Jack added on.

"And you got mad that she could read you so well so you stormed down to my office to throw a fit."

"Yeah…NO, no, I'm not throwing a fit!" Jack defended, stopping his pacing and looking at the woman who was once younger than him, in another lifetime.

Cassie smirked the same smirk she had learned from the irate general. "Sure, you're not."

"You really didn't say anything to her?" he asked.

"Nothing," Cassie replied. "You know, everyone knew back then. As hard as you both tried, neither of you could hide your feelings for shit. Grace has been around you enough now. The way you look at her is the same way you used to look at Sam and she knows she looks like her mom. It's no wonder she's figured it out Jack."

Jack groaned. "I don't mean to look at her like that."

"I know," Cassie softly replied.

"What am I going to do?" Jack whined, plopping into a chair.

Cassie sat down in her chair. "Keep reminding yourself that, as much as they look alike, and sound alike, they're not the same person. Get to know Grace as Grace."

Jack just nodded in return. She was Carter's kid, NOT Carter! He had to remember that. Not Carter, not Carter, not Carter.

He repeated his chant over and over in his head as he left Cassie's office and headed out of the mountain. Not Carter. She was not Carter.

Now, if he could just convince his heart as easily as his mind, he'd be good to go.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	4. Chapter 4

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Four:**

Grace left the commissary after refilling her coffee mug, and headed to her lab to start her day. She had just finished eating a light breakfast with a few of her new lab assistants, the general never making an appearance.

He had been avoiding her since the confrontation in the locker room over a week ago. He had stopped coming to her lab everyday and the few times they had been around each other, he made excuses to leave quickly. The excuse that he had to prepare for the monthly exchange with Atlantis had been used repeatedly and was getting quite old as far as Grace was concerned.

She shouldn't have confronted him. She knew that, and quite frankly, she missed him. She turned the last corner to her lab and made the decision that today was going to be the last day that Jack avoided her. She nodded her head, accepting her own silent agreement and walked into the lab.

"Can I help you?" a man asked.

Grace looked at the man with wide eyes and then did a quick take around the lab. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and somehow went to the wrong lab." Grace finally managed to get out.

The man chuckled lightly. "That's okay, this place is a maze of grey, I completely understand. You must be the new scientist? Dr. Shanahan?"

Grace smiled and nodded at the man. "Yes, that's me."

"I'm Major Mark Donnelly of SG-1. I just got back from a two month stay at the Beta Site, but it's nice to meet you."

Grace smiled again, her smile identical to her mother's smile that had cast a spell over many men. "It's nice to meet you, major. I'm sorry for the intrusion. Uh, I'll just be going," she told him, backing up out of the room.

She walked into the corridor, shaking her head. "How on earth did I end up in the wrong lab?" she murmured, looking around to figure out where she was and where her lab was located.

Once Grace found her lab she was perturbed to discover that she hadn't even been on the right floor. Instead of burying herself in the Ori files, she sat on her lab stool and contemplated what the heck had just happened to her.

It really made no sense. She admitted to herself that she had been walking on autopilot, her mind too preoccupied with thoughts of the general to pay attention to where she was going. But still, she had been here for a month now, and even on autopilot, her body should have led her straight to her lab, not to a different part of the base that she hadn't even been to yet. It was puzzling, and more than confusing to the young scientist.

Having no luck and no memory of the lab she had ended up in, Grace finally acknowledged that she wasn't going to find the answer and forced her mind back to the Ori files lying out in front of her.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

A few hours later, Grace found her mind drifting from the Ori back to the general. Looking at her clock, she saw that it was getting close to lunch time and decided it was time to confront the general and apologize.

Standing up, Grace patted over her clothing, smoothing out any small wrinkles from sitting, and ran a hand through her shoulder-length hair. Sighing, she felt her heart beat pick up at the prospect of what she was about to do, and stepped out of her lab.

Trying to figure out exactly what she was going to say to the general, her body, once again, went on auto-pilot as she maneuvered her way through the corridors of the SGC. Luckily for her, this time she did not end up in an unknown location, but exactly where she wanted to be, in front of the general's closed door.

Holding her breath, she reached out and lightly tapped the door with her knuckles.

"Enter," Jack's voice sounded on the other side.

Releasing the air in her lungs, Grace closed her eyes as she turned the knob and pushed open the door.

"Doctor," Jack said in surprise, not expecting Grace to show up in his office. He immediately checked the room for a quick escape route. Jack had openly acknowledged the way he looked at Grace, to both himself and Cassie. And he had every intention of getting to know Grace as Grace and not Carter. But, it was hard. And, after finding himself unable to even make eye-contact with the Carter look-a-like, he had opted for avoidance instead.

"General," Grace returned. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Jack checked his watch, feigning like he had somewhere to be. "Uh, make it quick? I have a busy schedule," he told her, his eyes leaving his wrist and catching the piercing blues of the young woman. His breath caught in his throat as he took in just how beautiful she was, just how much of Carter she was.

Grace nodded and took a seat. "I just… I want to apologize to you."

Jack's eyebrows arched in surprise.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed you in the locker room. It's just…when I think I have something figured out, it's like I can't stop until I've solved it. And, I thought all I needed was your confirmation and I would have had it solved, so I pushed you, and made you uncomfortable and I'm sorry." Grace looked up at the general and was surprised to see the look of anguish on his face. Grace cleared her voice and continued. "This last week has been boring without you in my lab everyday and……I miss you."

This time when Grace looked up she saw a twinkling in the general's eyes and a small smile trying to perk up the corner of his lips. "You've missed me?"

Grace grinned and Jack's heart flipped. "Yeah," she confirmed, dropping her head in shyness.

"Soooo," Jack drawled out, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in his chair. "All those times when you were teasing me about avoiding work and hiding in your lab, all those eye-rolls, you really enjoyed my company?" His smirk grew on his face as he finished.

Grace rolled her eyes playfully and grinned as she gazed at the child-like actions of the general.

"Well, then," Jack continued, escape route forgotten. "I will have to make sure I find time to distract you at least once a day from now on."

"I'd like that," she said softly, her eyes locking on his and sending more than just friendship waves towards the older man.

Jack gulped. '_Not Carter, not Carter, not Carter_,' he mentally chanted. "Okay, well," he nervously replied, checking his watch again. "It's almost time for our exchange with Atlantis." He looked back up at the blue-eyed blonde and saw the look of eagerness shining back at him. "You want to come with?" he asked, reading her as easily as he had read her mother.

Grace replied with a mega-watt smile and an eager head-nod.

Jack smiled. Maybe she wasn't Carter, but she was damned close and he wasn't going to dwell on the 'nots' when he had this beautiful, bright, amazing woman he could be getting to know better. Making up his mind, he stood up and motioned for Grace to follow him down to the control room.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Once in the control room, Grace took a seat and started reading over the information on the computer screen. Jack watched her in fascination, her moves identical to those of Carter's, so long ago. Clearing his throat, he looked down on her. "Interesting?" he asked, teasingly.

Grace grinned. "Yes, actually, it is. I haven't really had a lot of time to check out the control room and see how everything is running. Dr. Nichols has had me busy with the Ori technology."

A knowing smile graced Jack's face and when the stargate started spinning and the klaxons sounded, Jack was surprised when he found himself expecting Walter's voice to announce an incoming wormhole. Jack shook himself, pulling him back to the present. Walter had retired before Jack had even returned to the SGC, he hadn't even thought of the man in years.

In place of Walter's voice, a female technician announced the incoming wormhole and after the eighth chevron locked in place and the wormhole stabilized between the two galaxies, she confirmed Atlantis' IDC.

Jack couldn't help but get lost in the look on Grace's face as she watched the iris open and the shimmering wormhole dance in the event horizon. Just from watching her, he knew that equations and theorems, and strings of numbers so long he couldn't see the end, were running through her mind as she gazed at the marvelous sight of beauty before her.

Nudging her in the shoulder, she looked up at him and he motioned for her to follow him down to the gate room.

Just at the pair entered the gate room, men and supplies started to emerge through the event horizon. The SF's kept their stoic stance on each side of the gate, waiting for any sign of trouble and Jack and Grace came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp.

The gate room was filled with activity as the supplies were unloaded and the returning people were greeted. But, when an older, bald man with glasses stepped through the wormhole, the gate room seemed to quiet down in response.

The man's eyes landed on the couple at the bottom of the ramp, and with bemused eyes, he quickly glanced around the gate room, taking in everything, his mind working on overtime to figure out what was going on. Coming to a stop in front of Jack and Grace, he looked at the two with open curiosity. "Did I go back in time?" he asked in all seriousness, looking almost as if he was waiting for a younger version of himself to come trolling into the gate room.

Jack chuckled at the confused man. "No, Daniel, you didn't go back in time. This is Grace," Jack told the bald-headed archaeologist.

"Grace?" Daniel asked, his eyes devouring the woman in front of him. "Grace?"

Grace smiled warmly at the older man, a feeling of familiarity around him. Even with the bald head, with just a wisp of grey on the sides, and the fine lines of a man somewhere in his mid-sixties, Grace recognized him as another member of her mother's team. Dr. Daniel Jackson. She nodded at him, her smile growing as she saw him make the connection that she was her mother's daughter.

"Grace!" he exclaimed, his smile taking several years off his features. In a move that belied his age, the archaeologist pulled Grace into a tight embrace. "Oh my God! It's so good to see you again. Look at you! All grown up! You look just like Sam," he rambled, still holding her in a tight hug.

Eventually, Daniel relinquished his hold on the young woman and acknowledged the general of the base again. "Jack, I brought back an artifact that Vala and I discovered on a deserted planet. No one at Atlantis was able to figure out how to work it, I think it might be broken, but I figured I'd bring it here and see what your guys at Area 51 could do with it."

Jack nodded at Grace. "We'll give Grace a crack at it," he announced, making the mega watt smile reappear on the woman's face.

Daniel grinned, the sight of the two familiar faces together again sending warm fuzzies to cascade through his old, worn out soul.

"Alright old man, Cassie is in the infirmary, and she will be thrilled to see you. So, take your butt there and get a check-up, then we'll all have lunch. Deal?"

"Deal," Daniel agreed and then walked the familiar old path to the infirmary.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Lunch had been quite an occasion, and Grace was sure her cheeks were going to hurt by the time the meal was over with all the smiling and laughing she found herself doing. Tables had to be pushed together to accommodate the large group of team mates in the commissary. Jack and Grace sat next to each other, with Daniel and Cassie right across from them. Mike sat next to Cassie, and Major Donnelly had taken a seat next to Mike. Colonel Satterfield, the commander of the Atlantis military was sitting next to Jack. The fifty-year old Asian woman had returned to earth for a meeting with the president and was leaving for DC right after lunch.

The other two members of the current SG-1 were still off-world and weren't due back for another week.

Jack and Daniel had fallen into their old banter and Grace found herself completely relaxed in their company. Growing up with her dad, Grace had always felt like her life was not what it was supposed to be. She felt at odds with her own life, and that had always been frustrating to the intelligent woman who always wanted to find the answers, but here, with these people, she felt like she had finally found where she belonged. Whether that was because, in a sense, this was her mother's family, and the people and place that her mother loved, or if it was simply the fact that this place and these people had been her own decision, and not her dad's, she didn't know. But, no matter what it was, she felt at home, and she was happy.

After lunch, the group decided on a barbeque at Cassie's for dinner and had gone back to work. Knowing Grace still hadn't found a place, let alone a car, Jack offered her a ride and she eagerly accepted. He had also offered a ride to Daniel, but he declined, stating he had a few people and places he had to visit before meeting them at Cassie's house.

Jack nodded his head in understanding. He assumed Daniel was going to go and visit Sarah. She had been a host to the goa'uld, Osiris, and even though the tok'ra had removed the goa'uld, Sarah had never fully recovered from her time trapped inside her own body.

In the first few years after her rescue, she had experienced several panic attacks and had fallen into a massive depression. With the discovery of the Ori and the threat of invasion, Daniel wasn't able to help her as much as he wanted to, and he never stopped feeling guilty about that. He had promised to be there for her and help her through her recovery, but with first Anubis, and then the Ori, he had all but forgotten about his ex-girlfriend.

Eventually, Sarah had been diagnosed with dementia and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Whenever Daniel returned to earth, he tried to stop in and spend time with her.

With a smile aimed at his friends, Daniel left the group behind and made arrangements for his afternoon.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

When the allotted time for the barbeque had come, and Daniel still hadn't arrived at Cassie's, no one was worried. They knew it was likely that Sarah was having a good day, and Daniel was always reluctant to leave her when he happened upon them.

So instead, the group enjoyed the warm weather and sat out on the back deck, giving the man more time. Cassie, Jack, and Grace sat in close chairs, talking amongst themselves, and Mike and Donnelly stood a few feet away deep in their own conversation. Janie played happily on her swingset in the backyard.

Grace's laughter filled the air and Mark looked at the pretty woman who was still giggling at something the general had said. Looking back at his CO, he changed the topic of conversation. "She's gorgeous."

Mike chuckled lightly at his second-in-command. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Donnelly. Unless your willing to go through the general," he told him, pointing back to the other group.

Mark looked back and saw the general lean over and whisper something in the blonde's ear. Grace's face lit up at whatever he said to her and she squeezed his hand in return.

"I thought the general said he wasn't going to ever fall in love again. Wasn't it just a few months back that he and Cassie got into that big fight and he told her he had loved two women in his life and that was enough?" Mark asked, still not ready to admit defeat.

"Well, I guess he's changing his mind. Don't say anything to Cassie though, she won't understand."

Mark looked at his CO in confusion. "Why not?"

Mike shrugged. "Grace is the daughter of one of the women he was in love with. Cassie seems to think that he should be thinking of Grace as more of a daughter-figure, not as a potential love interest."

"Why? He's not her dad, is he?"

Mike shrugged. "If he is, I sure the hell hope he doesn't know, and that he finds out before they take their little flirting game any further.

Mark nodded his head in agreement and then they were all interrupted with the arrival of Dr. Jackson.

The night continued on much like their lunch conversation had, and the group enjoyed each other's company. Jack kept close to Grace all night, having already picked up on the lustful looks of the major and having no legitimate reason to openly dress down the competent officer.

Daniel, even in his old age, still had a keen eye, and he noticed how close Jack and Grace were with each other throughout the night. When Grace had yawned several times in the expanse of only a few minutes, Jack had leaned over and whispered in her ear, then informed the rest of the group that he was going to take the young woman back to the base.

"Grace, you can stay here and sleep in the guest room," Cassie offered.

Grace smiled sleepily at her friend as she stood up off the sofa with the help of Jack. "Thanks, Cassie, but I actually want to get an early start on that device Daniel brought back."

Cassie squinted her eyes at the couple, not missing how Jack had his arm around her waist as he told everyone good-bye and walked her to the door.

The group sat in silence in the living room as they heard Jack's truck start up and rumble down the street. When the noise could no longer be heard, Daniel finally broke the silence. "They're…..close."

"They weren't!" Cassie complained, standing up in frustration. "For the past week, he was avoiding her at all costs."

Daniel frowned, his fine lines turning into deep wrinkles with the move. "Why?"

Cassie shrugged. "Because she looks like Sam, why do you think? He was looking at her like he used to look at Sam and she picked up on it and confronted him."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"She asked him if he loved Sam."

"Ouch!" Daniel grimaced.

"Yeah," Cassie said, rolling her eyes. "I told him he needs to see her as Grace, not as Sam, but obviously he's just going to ignore my advice." Cassie ranted.

"Well, I can understand where he's coming from. I was having trouble myself remembering that she wasn't Sam. She doesn't just look like her, but she acts so much like her…..well, except for the whole open flirting, Jack and Sam were much more subtle with that."

Cassie shook her head in anger. "It's just wrong! I can't believe he's just going to flirt like that with her."

Daniel looked at Cassie in surprise of her anger. "Why does this bother you so much, Cass?"

"Because it's wrong!" she complained. "She's not Sam! And when he finally realizes that, he's going to hurt them both!"

Daniel didn't give in. "No, she's not, but Sam's not coming back, Cassie. Not to him. He needs to move on."

"I know! But not with her daughter! That's NOT moving on! That's denial!"

Daniel nodded his head in understanding. He could see Jack's point of view, but he could see Cassie's too. Jack had been in love with Sam when he was cloned, and obviously, Jack Jr. never got over that, even living another life, he never got over his feelings for Sam, and now, he had his own little copy of the woman.

Jack's clone was obviously accepting Sam's daughter as Sam. As much as he wanted his friend to find happiness in his second life, he knew that it was far more likely that the whole situation was going to have horrible, unforeseen circumstances.

Daniel closed his weary eyes and sighed. He was definitely going to have to have a talk with Jack before he went back to Atlantis.

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	5. Chapter 5

a/n: Thanks for the reviews everyone. I love receiving everyone's comments. A few more questions are answered in this chapter. But, the question of what happened to the original Jack and Sam will probably be answered in the next one.

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**Chapter Five:**

Before Daniel returned to Atlantis, he had a long talk with Jack and then reassured Cassie that Jack was not planning on seducing the young scientist. Jack had admitted that he had a hard time differentiating between Sam and Grace, but that his flirting with Grace was completely innocent. Cassie had a hard time accepting Jack's excuse, but Daniel persuaded her to give him some time to work it out on his own.

Reluctantly, Cassie agreed, remembering back to when she and Jack had first started working together at the SGC. It had been hard on them in the beginning. With Jack's new body, Cassie was technically three years older than him, but the two still held a father-daughter relationship. A relationship that no one else could understand. It took them a long time to develop an equal friendship.

Once they were able to get past the father-daughter feelings, they became best friends. Early on in their new-found friendship, Jack had even gone as far as to innocently flirt with Cassie, something he always did with his close women-friends. But, Cassie immediately told him he was creeping her out and he stopped. In truth, he felt a little creeped out flirting with her, but he felt he had to give it a go in order to fully move past their father-daughter personas.

With that in mind, Cassie admitted that she did understand what Jack was doing, a little bit anyways. But, she was still not happy about it. When she looked at Grace, she saw the little baby girl whose diapers she used to change. And even though Jack Jr. never met Sam's daughter before she started at the SGC, she felt that he should see her as the chubby little baby as well.

Nevertheless, Cassie promised Daniel that she would stay out of it for now, but at the first sign of anything inappropriate, she was willing to castrate Jack. Daniel had chuckled and told her he didn't think she would have to resort to violence. The two friends hugged good-bye and Daniel prepared to return to Atlantis.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"General?" Colonel Satterfield greeted, stepping into Jack's office.

"Satterfield! We'll be dialing Atlantis in just a few minutes," Jack told the older woman.

Satterfield smiled and took a seat in front of Jack's desk.

"How was DC?" Jack asked.

Satterfield shrugged. "Same old same," she replied.

"Sooo," Jack stretched out, leaning back in his chair. "How are things in Atlantis?"

Satterfield sighed. "Well, we've been keeping the Ori at bay the best we can. We received intelligence that a super gate was discovered on the edge of the Pegasus Galaxy, so we have a few ships checking it out."

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face. "They've already infiltrated 22 other galaxies, it was just a matter of time before they found Pegasus," Jack sighed.

Satterfield frowned and nodded. "I know, sir, but I wish we would have had a little more time. Dr. Jackson and his team have found some interesting artifacts and I really think that our answer to the Ori is somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Hey, it's been over 20 years since the Ori became aware of us. We're lucky it took them until now to discover Pegasus. You've got good men under you, you'll get through this."

Satterfield nodded and sighed.

"I wish I could send you more, but I've got men stretched all over the Universe. I've got Teal'c and his group jumping from galaxy to galaxy just as back-up for our men fighting in the other galaxies because we have no one else to send. And, I haven't heard from the group who infiltrated the Ori galaxy in three months."

"So, basically you're telling me we're on our own in Pegasus?"

Jack grimaced. "I'm sorry, any supplies you need, we're more than willing to send your way, but yeah, basically, you're on your own out there."

Satterfield nodded in understanding. "That's what the President said."

"I'm sorry," Jack apologized again. "It's imperative we keep Atlantis from falling into the hands of the Ori, but there is nothing we can do from this end, it's up to you, Satterfield."

Satterfield stood up. "Thank you, sir."

Jack stood up with her and nodded. "It's time," he said, looking at his watch.

The two senior officers walked to the control room and Jack ordered the technician to dial Atlantis. The gate room was filled with people and supplies returning to the other galaxy. Jack walked Satterfield down to the gate room and watched as first Satterfield, and then Daniel returned to the Pegasus Galaxy.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

For the next few months Jack kept his word and distracted Grace in her lab everyday. Grace and Jack continued to flirt with each other, both alone and when others were around. The flirting was, for the most part, innocent. It only went so far and never involved any action.

In the meantime, the two were getting to know each other more and more. Jack found himself discovering the differences between Grace and Sam. The differences, as small and insignificant as they were, helped Jack to separate Grace from Sam.

With Sam's military background, she was much more tense than Grace. Grace was able to open up more than Carter ever had, at least with him. Grace also had an air of confidence around her that Carter didn't have until after she had blown up a sun. Carter always seemed like she had to still prove her worth in the military. Grace, perhaps from never being in the military, was content with her abilities.

But, even with the subtle differences, there were things about Grace that were eerily identical to her mother. Grace chewed on her bottom lip just like Carter when she was thinking. Grace made the same facial expressions as her mom. They both were proper and polite. They ate the same foods, liked the same things. And, what really freaked Jack out was that Grace's handwriting was identical to Carter's.

Then, there was her unexplained knowledge of wormhole physics and alien technology. It had taken a few years of gate travel and study of alien technology before Carter was able to understand or repair any off-world technology they discovered, let alone create her own ideas from them. But Grace, in just the few short months since Daniel had arrived with the broken Ancient artifact, had taken it and the other device that Dr. Nichols had given her to fiddle with, and created a possible weapon to use against the Ori.

Jack was astounded. Hailey had been right. Grace was somehow smarter than even Carter. The pedestal Jack had Carter on since the first year of the program was left in the dust as Grace's pedestal skyrocketed above it.

Grace submitted her work to the general and he had immediately called the president, who was just as flabbergasted as Jack over the device the newest member of the SGC had created. And, before Grace could even head to her new apartment for the night, she was called down to the general's office and informed she had one hour to pack for a trip to DC and a meeting with the president and joint chiefs.

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Jack and Grace arrived in DC a few hours later. It was already getting late, but Hailey had insisted on seeing them immediately, so while their bags were sent to their hotel, the two SGC members were whisked away to the Pentagon.

After a few hours with Hailey, Grace and Jack finally arrived at their hotel. They had ate a light dinner with Hailey, so both retired for the evening.

Jack's hotel room was a few down from Grace. After walking her to her door, he told her good night and waited to hear the lock click in place after she shut her door before he walked the rest of the way to his room.

Sighing, Jack locked his own door and then started stripping off the extra clothing that came with his dress blues. In only a matter of minutes, Jack was down to a t-shirt and his dress pants. He went to the bathroom and washed up. As he brushed his teeth, he wandered out of the bathroom and stepped out on to the balcony. A loud splash caught his attention and his eyes drifted down to the hotel pool. Lights were on underneath the water, and Jack could see the cause of the splash.

A woman was currently swimming from the deep end of the pool to the shallow end. He watched her curiously as she reached the other end and then turned and began a lap back to the deep end. It only took him a few seconds when she started back to the deep end before he realized he was staring at Grace.

Her lithe body expertly maneuvered from one end of the pool to the other, swimming lap after lap. Jack watched her, his toothbrush in his mouth forgotten. She was beautiful. Swimming in the dark of the night, not a care in the world, her body so perfect, her motions so precise, she was exquisite.

Jack knew he was down-right gawking at Grace, but even as his body reacted to the wet, barely-clad woman, he convinced himself that he was just watching her six. Anyone could sneak up on her and try to attack. It was his duty to keep her safe at all costs, and if that meant watching her magnificent body move rhythmically from one end of the pool to the other, then so be it.

Before long, Grace pulled herself out of the pool. Jack was mesmerized as he watched the droplets of water run down her body and darken the concrete in wetness as she walked across it. She picked up her towel and started to dry herself off.

When she wrapped the towel around her, Jack heard himself groan in disappointment and was quite surprised at himself. Not taking his eyes off her, he watched as Grace pitter-pattered back inside the hotel. He opened his door a crack, not stepping out, and waited until he heard the elevator at the other end of the hall ding. He heard her footsteps, already having her gait memorized or transferring his memory of Carter's gait to her, either way, it was definitely her footsteps. He waited until he heard her unlock her door and enter her room before he shut his door. She was safe inside her hotel room and Jack finally returned to brushing his teeth.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

The next day produced more meetings for Jack and Grace. Grace's new weapon had spiked a lot of interest and the two were ordered to attend meeting after meeting throughout the day. First, they had another meeting with Hailey, then the joint chiefs, then the International Stargate Council, then the International Committee that oversees the Stargate Finances. Then, another committee that Grace couldn't even remember before they were back to another meeting with the joint chiefs. All over the device Grace was sure anyone could have figured out.

By the time night had fallen, neither Jack nor Grace had eaten since noon, and they were both famished. They had to spend another night in DC in order to fit in their meeting with the President, and (gasp) another meeting with the joint chiefs before they could return to Colorado.

By the time the young scientist and the general had left the Pentagon, Grace was contemplating calling her dad and thanking him for refusing to let her join the military. The thought of that many meetings as a normal occurrence was crazy. Of course, Grace quickly wiped the idea from her mind, remembering that her dad had also ordered her not to work for the SGC, something that she loved, and had disowned her for not obeying him. In the time she had started working for the SGC, she had spoken with her sisters and her step mom, but never once had she spoken to her dad. The man was obviously sticking with his decision.

"So, where are we eating?" Jack's voice cut in to Grace's thoughts about her stubborn, pig-headed father.

"There's a restaurant in the hotel, how about we eat there. That way we're close to our beds, I'm exhausted."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, me too, sounds good," he told her and then held her arm as he directed her towards their awaiting car.

The restaurant in the hotel was quite nice. A live band was playing on a stage and many couples were dancing in front of it, having already ate their meals. It was late, way past the normal dinner hour, and there was no wait at getting a table.

Jack ordered a beer and the quickest appetizer the waitress could get him. Grace ordered a diet coke and a double of whatever appetizer Jack was having. The waitress had giggled, commenting on how hungry they must be. Something both Jack and Grace admitted to wholeheartedly.

With most people in the restaurant done eating or on dessert, Jack and Grace didn't have to wait long for their food, and they both mowed down everything on their plates. "How do you do this?" Grace asked, after taking the last bite of her potato.

"What? Meetings?" Jack asked, smirking at the woman across from him.

"Yes! Meetings," Grace exclaimed, the exhaustion disappearing with the consumption of food.

Jack shrugged. "Well, normally, there aren't quite as many as we had today. You, young lady, are the cause of all these meetings."

"Me?" Grace questioned, looking innocent. "You can't blame me!" she faked offense.

Jack grinned. "Are you kidding? Everyone wants to meet and speak with the beautiful scientist who created the perfect weapon in just weeks."

Grace shook her head. "It was easy. Anyone could have figured it out."

"And yet, only you did," Jack replied, pointing his pea-poked fork at her before returning it to his plate, jabbing a few more peas and sticking the vegetable-filled utensil in his mouth.

Grace decided not to argue about whether or not anyone else could have done what she had done. Looking at the dance floor, she turned back to Jack. "Let's dance."

Jack choked on the peas in his mouth. "I don't dance," he told her, reaching for his beer.

Grace giggled. Jack had ordered them each a couple shots of some new-age vodka and she had ordered a marguerita with her dinner that was now empty except for the salt still around the edges of the glass. She wasn't drunk, but she was a little more…..relaxed….than normal. "Yes you do," Grace told him, standing up and grabbing his hand.

"No, no I don't," Jack defended, letting her hold his hand, but not budging as she tried to pull him out of his seat.

She stopped and looked at him, her big blue eyes piercing into his and he knew he was in trouble. "Please," she whined, giving him the best puppy-dog expression he could ever remember seeing, not taking into account the shots of vodka and three beers that were lowering his defenses.

Sighing, Jack relented and lifted up out of his seat. Grace grinned in victory and dragged him over to where the other couples were dancing.

As they stepped into the slow dance, Jack felt his body react to the close, touching proximity of Grace. Flirting was one thing, but this was something totally different. He knew what his body wanted, what his heart craved, but there was still an invisible line he refused to cross. Gulping, Jack tried to step slightly away from Grace so she wouldn't be able to feel his attraction to her.

Grace, on the other hand, had a different idea, and when Jack stepped back, she merely stepped forward, returning them to their previous positions. "Grace," Jack teased. "You lean on me anymore and you're going to fall asleep."

Grace giggled and turned her head into his neck, the smell of him sending a wave of desire and a strong feeling of familiarity through Grace. This was exactly where she was meant to be, she was sure of it.

Without conscious thought, Jack tightened his hold on her upon hearing her sweet-sounding giggle. "No giggling," he teased, and was immediately rewarded with another giggle.

Grace turned her face up and kissed Jack's jaw line, just below his ear. Jack loosened his hold on her and pulled away, is eyes locking on hers. Grace saw the surprise and anxiety in his eyes and he saw the desire and confusion in hers.

"Grace," he breathed, the apology more than evident in his voice.

"You don't want me?" she asked, the hurt tone not lost on Jack.

Jack sighed. "It's not that. It's not that at all. We just…we can't," he told her, his hands rubbing her upper arms in comfort as they stood on the dance floor.

"Why?" Grace asked, her eyes defiantly keeping his in her gaze. "Because I'm not her?"

Jack pulled her closer to him, with one hand going around her waist, he took the other hand and tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear. "No, because you're so much like her."

Grace leaned up, coming face to face with Jack, her lips just inches from him. "I am like her. I look like her, I act like her. In many ways, I am the spitting-image of her, except in the area that kept you two apart."

Jack felt his heart race as Grace tickled his lips with her words. She was so close, and he wanted her so bad.

"I'm not in the military Jack. What you loved about my mom is in me, but there are no regulations keeping us apart."

Jack couldn't stop himself any longer, her words had forced his feelings for her, for her mother, to flood through his system in one giant wave, and with her mouth so close to his, he moved the few inches and devoured her lips with his own.

He wanted this, and so did she, and even while his desire warred with his guilt, the couple left the restaurant and made their way up to her hotel room.

Something in the back of his head told him what they were doing was wrong, but he refused to acknowledge it. Their clothes were quickly discarded and the bed was soon occupied.

In what felt like a deep, desperate need for this woman, Jack explored her naked body, memorizing every curve and feel of her flesh beneath him. In the end, the guilt was defeated as the desire won and the couple made love into the early hours of the morning.

With Jack on top of her, so much pleasure and feelings coursing through her body, Grace felt the world around her shatter as if it was a façade. Everything she had been before meeting this man was nothing. She was meant to be with him, she felt it in her soul. She loved him. Feelings she had never felt in her twenty-five years rampaged through her body, escalating to heights unimaginable. She loved him, and as the intense, unexplainable feelings took over her body, she felt an explosion of realization come directly from her soul.

She had loved him her whole life.

The feelings escalating in Grace seemed to transcend to Jack, and as his climax hit, he buried himself deep inside Grace and holding her body impossibly close to his, their chests touching and their heart beats matching the other, Jack cried out as his body sang in overwhelming pleasure, "Carter!"

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	6. Chapter 6

a/n: This one's pretty long. Sorry. I had a lot to get in. I hope everyone is enjoying this story. I'm not getting as many reviews as normal, so I'm unsure whether this story is going over well or not. I like it. But, then again, I'm kind of weird, so yeah. But, those who are reviewing, I'll keep writing for you!

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**Chapter Six:**

Exhaustion taking over, Jack collapsed next to Grace on the bed. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her as close as he could get her, leaning over, he pressed a soft kiss on her temple before closing his eyes and crashing back down on the pillow.

He was in limbo between lucidity and unconsciousness when it hit him whose name he had cried out when all of his defenses had been down, and shame swept over his entire body as it filled with guilt and worry for Grace. How would she take his cry for her mother?

Before he could think of an adequate apology, his body succumbed to the exhaustion and Jack was pulled into the abyss of sleep.

The next morning, he woke up still wrapped around a naked Grace and she giggled when she felt his reaction to their positions. He used every keen sense he had to determine her feelings about his cry, but either she didn't care that he called out Carter, or it never registered to her who he had cried out for the night before.

She seemed perfectly happy and content in his arms, and if making love for a second time before getting up and preparing for their day was any clue, Jack was sure she had somehow not heard his slip of the tongue.

He was relieved. He was already filled with so much guilt for sleeping with the beautiful young Carter look-a-like, that he wasn't sure if he could deal with a confrontation about his feelings. Since Grace's arrival at the SGC, Jack didn't understand his own confusing feelings, let alone explain them to anyone else.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

After a full morning and a few hours into the afternoon of meetings with the President and the joint chiefs, Jack and Grace finally made their way back to Colorado Springs. They had a lot to plan for to test Grace's new weapon. As it was, the parts from the machine were the only ones accessible, so only the one weapon was available. It would take an impermeable military strategy to ensure the protection of the device so they could defeat their enemy.

With the time difference, it was still early afternoon when Jack and Grace's helicopter touched down on the Cheyenne Mountain helipad. Anxious to get a start on the plan Jack and the joint chiefs had worked out, he nodded his thanks to the pilot and hurried down to the SGC.

As soon as Jack and Grace exited the elevator on sublevel 27, Jack's assistant was waiting for them. Jack ordered the sergeant to call SG-1 to the briefing room and then headed there himself with Grace right on his heels.

A half hour later, Grace and Jack were sitting at the briefing table with the current SG-1. Along with Bryant and Donnelly, were the other two members of the team, Captain Kayla Reynolds, an attractive weapons specialist in her early thirties, and Dr. Corey Simons, a linguist and anthropologist who was in his late thirties.

Grace had met both members when they had returned from an off-world mission a few months back. Dr. Simons seemed to primarily keep his head in a book, so it had been hard to get to know him well, but Grace had enjoyed spending time with Kayla both on and off work since meeting her.

Jack cleared his throat and started the meeting. "Grace and I just returned from DC and have orders from the president himself to try this new weapon Grace has created." Jack passed out files around the table.

Bryant opened his file and started reading, curious to find out what the weapon was. With an incredulous look, Bryant raised his head and gazed at Grace in awe. "Are you saying, you created a device that can force the Ori to take human form?"

"Yup!" Jack answered for her, pride clearly evident in his voice.

"How?" Major Donnelly asked. He was the engineer of the group and was in even more awe than his CO.

"It was quite easy, actually," Grace started, her cheeks starting to redden from the adoring eyes staring at her. "I was already working on a device from Dr. Nichols that dealt with energy waves when Dr. Jackson brought another device from Atlantis. The second device was destroyed, but it gave me the idea, and with enough parts from each device I was able to create one device that emits an immense energy signal that slows down all energy molecules and compresses them until they have no other choice but to return to a solid form, in the case of the Ori, that would be human form."

Jack spoke up. "And once the Ori take human form, they are capable of being killed."

Bryant crinkled his forehead in doubt. "What's stopping the Ori from just ascending again once the device is shut off?"

"Once the Ori take human form, the Ancients will be able to stop them from re-ascending," Grace stated, most matter-of-factly."

Several pairs of eyes landed on Grace. "How do you know that?" Bryant asked.

Grace scrunched her eyebrows down in a look of confusion. "From Orlin. He said the ascended beings could stop others from ascending."

Major Donnelly cleared his throat and looked at Grace with an apologetic look on his face. "I've read all the reports we have on Orlin, from the first time he came home with Col. Carter, and from the second time he returned as a child to help us when we first met the Ori. There was nothing in the reports about blocking ascension. Trust me, I would know, I've got those files memorized."

Grace frowned and Jack was sure her skin paled right before his eyes. "I know he said it. I remember it," she argued.

"You…remember it?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman next to him.

Grace bit her bottom lip and continued her frown. "Yes. I remember. I know he said that to my mother."

"I could get all the Orlin files," Donnelly offered.

"No, that's alright, Grace is right, the Ancients can block them, but it isn't in any of the reports," Jack admitted.

All eyes turned to Jack in obvious curiosity and surprise.

Jack scrubbed his hands through his hair and sighed before lifting his head back up and looking at the men and women around him. "Carter told me about the ascension thing, but with the NID all over the Orlin incident back then, we thought it was best to leave it out of the report." Jack sighed again and glanced at Grace before turning back to the rest of the table. "We were worried that the NID would interrogate Carter more than they already had if they knew Orlin gave up immortality to stay with her."

Jack turned back to the amazed eyes of Grace. "But, what I want to know, is how YOU remember that?" Jack asked.

Grace bit her bottom lip before meeting the eyes of the general. "I don't know. I read the reports about Orlin and it was like I could see it happening, including the conversation that was evidently not even in the reports."

"How is that possible?" Bryant asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow and looked at Grace for an explanation, but the pretty woman looked almost scared in the large executive seat and had no explanation to give.

"Uhm" the soft voice of Captain Reynolds sounded out in the quiet room. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but is it possible that this could be some effect of Colonel Carter's blending with a tok'ra?"

All eyes turned to the captain.

She grimaced at the immediate attention of everyone in the room. "I don't know, it's just, the goa'uld have genetic memory and Colonel Carter was a host to a symbiote."

Jack turned his attention back to Grace. "You had a physical here, right?"

Grace lowered her head guiltily. "No."

"No?" Jack repeated in incredulousness.

"No," she confirmed, a whine sneaking into her tone. "When I first started here, the infirmary staff was short-handed and my physical was pushed back until they caught up on the SG team members' physicals that were behind." Grace shrugged. "By then, I was working on this device and never rescheduled. They have my blood type on file and I'm healthy, I really didn't see the importance of a full physical."

Jack sighed. "I want you to get a physical, ASAP, understood?"

"Yes, sir," Grace said, then closed her eyes at her slip. That was what her mother used to say.

Jack stiffened upon hearing the words leave her mouth, but quickly shook it off with more important things to worry about. "Is it possible she has genetic memory?" Jack asked the rest of the table.

Donnelly spoke up. "Well, sir, Colonel Carter is one of very few people to have been host to a symbiote and lived to tell about it……You're another one," he added and then grimaced by the look on the general's face. "The truth is, sir, we just don't know what all the side-effects are to a blending. Colonel Carter was the most affected when her symbiote died inside her. Her blood chemistry changed and she received all of Jolinar's memories. We've also got Cassie who has naquada in her blood, but never had a symbiote, and you who had a symbiote, but don't have the naquada."

"It wasn't this body that had the symbiote," Jack quietly cut in.

Donnelly nodded. "I don't know if that's a factor or not. I think we should give Cassie a crack at this and see what she can figure out. I'd say that, yes, sir, it is a possibility. It would also explain why Dr. Shanahan has stumbled into my lab on several occasions and not known how she got there."

Jack looked at Grace in surprise.

Grace rolled her eyes. "I knew how I got there, I walked. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going and kept ending up at his lab instead of mine. It's not that big of a deal, it's only happened a few times.

"Five times," Major Donnelly corrected. "That I know of."

Jack turned back to Grace. "Donnelly has your mom's old lab," he announced in a gentle voice.

Grace's face whitened before his eyes.

"It would explain quite a lot," Jack added softly, thinking of the confrontation in the locker room months ago, among other things.

"If she has Colonel Carter's memory, she might be able to pull up more crucial information," Bryant added, looking at Grace in wonder.

"Perhaps, but her health is my top priority," Jack replied, gathering the papers in front of him. "Grace, get down to the infirmary, we'll all meet back here tomorrow at 1300 to go over the plans for the test."

"Yes, sir," came from the military officers before Jack stood up and retreated to his office.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Cassie knocked lightly on Jack's door before pushing it open and stepping in. The last thing she expected to see was Grace flying back from the general's desk. Her face was red, her hair was disheveled and she was frantically trying to smooth out her clothes.

"Ahem," Cassie cleared her voice, her glare throwing daggers at Jack. "I have Grace's test results," she announced icily.

"Thank you," Jack said, trying to sound cool and collected. He stood up, the bulge in his pants still evident, and Cassie diverted her eyes in disgust.

She handed him the file, still glaring at him with an angry expression.

"What?" he asked, already knowing what was upsetting her, but feeling as though it was none of her business.

Cassie gritted her teeth and sent him another angry glare. "Nothing," she snapped before turning and heading back to the door.

"CASSANDRA FRASIER!" he bellowed in his father voice.

Cassie immediately froze in her spot.

"Grace could you give Cassie and I a few minutes?" he asked the young woman in a soft voice.

Grace nodded and quickly left the office.

"Say what's on your mind, doctor," Jack spoke once Grace disappeared down the stairs to the control room. He used her salutation, not her full name, a sure sign that he was making this equal. Friend against friend, not father against daughter.

Cassie swirled around on her feet. "You're sleeping with her, aren't you?" she accused with venom in her voice.

"What business is it of yours?" Jack asked, holding his ground.

Cassie groaned. "I can't believe you, Jack! She's not Sam!"

"I know that!" Jack hissed.

"Do you? Do you really, Jack?"

"YES!" he roared.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You don't see Sam when you look at Grace? You don't think of Sam? Don't lie!"

Jack took a step forward and grabbed Cassie's arm. "I see Grace!" he growled.

Cassie glared up at the angry eyes of her best friend. "And what about this whole genetic memory thing? Am I just supposed to assume that Sam's memories have nothing to do with your feelings for Grace, or her feelings for you?"

A flash of anxiety crossed Jack's features and for a second Cassie worried about what was causing Jack such sadness. "The parts of Grace that are Sam are still Grace," he quietly announced and Cassie knew from his words that Jack had thought long and hard about the whole Sam/Grace issue, probably since the first day Grace Shanahan arrived at the SGC.

Cassie sighed, her body relaxing, a clear sign of defeat. "She doesn't have naquada in her blood."

"What?" Jack gasped in surprise. "Really? None?"

"None," she confirmed. "I sent the rest of her tests to the lab, but I checked for naquada myself, she doesn't have any."

"What does this mean?" Jack asked.

Cassie shrugged. "I don't know. We can wait and see what the other test results reveal. We have no idea how genetic memory is transferred from parent to offspring. We've always assumed that the naquada in the goa'uld's genetic make-up had something to do with it, but we don't know for sure. It could very well be something else that allows this phenomena."

Jack nodded absently, he had really expected the naquada to be a culprit in this recent discovery about Grace. Before he could voice anymore concerns, the klaxons blared and both Jack and Cassie hurried to the control room.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"What's going on?" Jack asked as soon as he entered the control room.

"Sir, we're receiving Col. Grogan's IDC," the tech. sgt. announced.

"Grogan!" Jack blurted in surprise. "Open the iris, get a medical team down here," he ordered anxiously.

Grace, who was sitting at one of the control monitors, turned with questioning eyes when she heard the anxiousness in the general's voice.

Jack looked down at her and shrugged. "Col. Grogan led the team into the Ori galaxy over six months ago," he announced.

Grace nodded in understanding and then turned her attention back to the gate room when she saw movement at the gate.

Jack tensed as he saw the bloodied men slowly coming through the gate. The medical team was already in the gate room, but more and more men kept coming through. Without hesitation, Jack started down to the gate room. Cassie had already joined her medical team down there and Grace followed right behind the general.

Jack and Grace helped out where they could. It took twenty minutes of a constant stream of mostly injured men and women coming through the gate before the wormhole finally disengaged. Cassie's voice could be heard shouting out orders to her medical staff and all the other personnel who had quickly volunteered to help with the large group.

Grace was helping a young, bruised man with cuts and gouges all over his body with an obvious broken leg get to the infirmary. "We're almost there," she said out of breath, practically carrying him the extra few feet to an empty cot. She hauled him up on the cot and checked to make sure he was okay before she heard the general's voice a few cots away.

"Grogan, slow down and tell me what the hell happened," Jack questioned the man who had been hysterical since he stepped through the gate.

"Sir! We were surrounded, we were all injured, they should have easily defeated us, but you saved us!" he cried, his voice louder than it should have been, making Grace wonder if he had punctured an ear drum.

Jack held the flailing man in place on the bed by gripping his arms. "Tell me what happened," he calmly repeated, trying to get the colonel to focus.

"You, the original you, and Col. Carter appeared, you wiped out the enemy. It was amazing!" At this, the colonel turned his frightened, unfocused eyes to Jack's face and with everything he could muster, told Jack what he was sent back to tell him. "Sir, General O'Neill and Colonel Carter told me that the Ori are planning something huge. They said we don't have much time, we have to find a way to defeat them!"

Jack tried to keep the man calm, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone approach the two of them, and desperately hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. The look of shock on the colonel's face told him it was exactly who he didn't want it to be.

He turned and locked eyes on the shaken woman next to him. She turned her dazed orbs to Jack, and he knew she was already working her way through what the colonel had divulged. "My mother?" was all she asked, her voice so soft in the chaotic infirmary, Jack was surprised he even heard it.

He nodded, the look of grief unable to be removed from his face as he observed her mystified expression.

"She's alive?" she asked, her face the image of a child.

"No, kind of, not really," he tried to explain without success.

He saw her face turn to stone before his eyes. She now knew they had lied about her mother's death.

And, she was pissed.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

He found her hours later sitting in her lab in the dark.

He walked in and took a seat across from her. Not bothering to turn on the light, not bothering to take her hand in comfort, or ask how she was.

He already knew.

It wasn't comfort that she wanted, it was the truth.

And, he was here to give her exactly what she wanted.

Without any greeting, he went right to the explanation. "Carter was captured by the Ori and taken to their galaxy. She was tortured and interrogated for months without anyone from the SGC able to find her. General O'Neill, the original, went nuts trying to find her. He did something that seemed completely out-of-character to those who didn't know him well. He contacted the Asgaard and made them put the information they had removed of the Ancients back into his mind. After that, he had Thor take him to the super gate, and he entered the Ori galaxy. He found your mom. She was almost dead, no chance of survival. He did the only thing he could think of, he ascended them both."

At this, Grace looked up at Jack in shock. She never even suspected her mother had ascended.

Jack continued. "The Ori blocked them from leaving their galaxy, so for the last twenty-some years they've been fighting the Ori, ascended being to ascended being. They've found ways of communicating with us over the years, so we've been aware of their ongoing fight from their plane of existence."

"Why," Grace croaked and then cleared her voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Jack shrugged. "Before you started here it was classified, not even your dad knows the truth."

Grace shook her head. "No, why didn't you tell me after I started on the Ori weapon?"

Jack felt his heart stop. Could he tell her the truth? Could he admit his weakness? "I was scared of losing you," he confessed in a vulnerable voice.

Grace looked up, her eyes searching his for any sign that he was lying. "Lose me?" she asked in confusion.

Now, Jack did reach up and cover her hands with his own. He looked deep in her eyes, his expression saying more than his words ever could. "Yes. I thought if you knew we lied about your mother's death, you wouldn't want to work here. I was scared of you leaving my life after just getting you in it."

Grace smiled, her eyes filled with unshed tears at his confession. She couldn't leave him. Ever. This man, he controlled her heart. She couldn't leave him. He had power over her, the same power the original had over her mother. She knew that. She could feel it. And she knew there was no leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

a/n: I'm not really fond of the Ori mythology the writers created. It's just too surreal for my taste. However, they are now part of the Stargate workings, so I had to include them, and I must say, my explanations for how the machine works is just as surreal as the Ori. I took large leaps and bounds with the limited physics that I know, and I know it isn't entirely accurate in this chapter, but if the writers on the show can do it, so can I. And, if there are any physics majors out there reading this story, I wholeheartedly apologize.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Seven:**

Jack took a seat at the briefing table and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright folks," he started as soon as everyone's eyes were on him. "As you've all more than likely heard by now, the Ori are planning something big. The president feels it would be best to speed up the test of the new weapon and get started on a strategy to infiltrate the Ori galaxy as soon as we have a go on the weapon." Jack glanced over at Grace sitting next to him and then back to the rest of the table. "You're all off to Atlantis in one hour."

"Atlantis, sir?" Bryant asked.

"Yup! The Pegasus Galaxy has the least amount of Priors at this time. It is less likely news of the weapon will get back to the Ori from there. If all goes well, I'll expect you all back here in eight hours." He looked at Grace. "That enough time?"

Grace nodded. "It should be, as long as we can get right out to the land."

"Shouldn't be a problem, I've already called up Atlantis and briefed them. They should have a puddle jumper and everything else you need ready to go."

"What else do we need, sir?" Kayla asked from her seat next to Bryant.

Jack turned to Grace and motioned for her to fill them in.

"Well, we're going to need personal shields and…"

"Ahem! Personal shields!" Bryant exclaimed, his eyebrows flying up to his forehead.

Grace grimaced. "Uh, yeah."

"May I ask why?" Bryant asked.

Grace licked her lips. "Well, uh, the device gives off a powerful charge of energy that can reach the plane where the ascended beings exist. Unfortunately, the device has to power up to that amount of energy. It's much like turning on a thermostat. You can set it for a certain temperature, but it still has to go through the other temperatures before it reaches the one it was set for."

"And this means?" Bryant prompted impatiently.

Grace glanced quickly at Jack, feeling a bit overwhelmed, and then back to Bryant. "While the device is charging, it will slow down and compress other molecules on our plane of existence, such as oxygen and water.."

"This thing is gonna compress the air!" Bryant shrieked.

Grace frowned at the outburst. "Only for a few seconds. The air really isn't what we're most worried about. Depending on the amount of humidity in the air, we could get pelted with very large blocks of hail before the device passes our plane. These blocks could knock one of us out, or take out the device."

"But, the air? We need to breathe!"

"The shields are equipped with life support, colonel," Jack calmly told his worried second-in-command. "So, even if the device takes longer than a few seconds to reach the ascended plane, you will all still be able to breathe."

"Yes, sir," Colonel Bryant replied, then turned his attention back to Grace. "First time through the stargate?"

Grace grinned. "Yes,"

Bryant sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Cool."

Grace's grin grew and she glanced over at Jack, catching him watching her with his own over-the-top grin.

The rest of the mission was discussed and then SG-1 and Grace headed off to the gear-up room to prepare for their trip to Atlantis.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Grace looked up at Jack in the control room. He looked stoic, but Grace could see the worry in his eyes, she knew, in just their short amount of time together, that he was scared of her going through the stargate and not returning…….just like her mother.

She smiled warmly at him and nodded lightly before adjusting her helmet and turning to Bryant.

"You have a go," came Jack's voice over the intercom and the team moved out.

Grace walked up and stopped in front of the event horizon, memories emerging in not only her mind, but Jack's as well as he watched her from the control room. He swallowed down the dryness in his throat as he watched her.

She was marveling over the fluctuations. Even from his distance, he knew that, just like her mother had. Before he could think anymore of it, she took a step and disappeared through the wormhole.

"Welcome to Atlantis," she heard the greeting before she saw who was speaking. Grace looked around. The room was much larger than the one they just left. She saw Colonel Satterfield talking to Bryant and then she spotted a small older woman with gray hair pulled back in a bun, walk up to her.

"You must be Colonel Carter's daughter. You look remarkably like her."

Grace smiled. "Yes, I'm Grace. It's nice to meet you," Grace said, holding her hand out.

The older woman took Grace's hand and shook it, the firm grip contrasting her frail-looking body. "I'm Elizabeth Weir. And, it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

Before Grace could say anything else, Bryant and Donnelly approached and motioned for her to follow them to the puddle jumper. Grace checked the FRED that held the device and followed the team.

An attractive man in his late thirties was standing in front of the puddle jumper they were headed to. "Hello, I'm Major Dawson," he told the group. "I'll be taking you to the mainland. You kids all packed?"

"Yes, we are, major," Colonel Bryant spoke up, his command voice coming through loud and clear.

Grace was sure she saw the major gulp uneasily before he gestured for them to come aboard.

The trip to the mainland was quick. They had already moved the mainlanders back to Atlantis for the day, and the small, empty village looked spooky as they hovered over it briefly before landing.

It took a little over an hour to get the device unloaded and set up, including setting up a one-way shield around its perimeter that would allow the energy signal out, without letting anything else in.

Once the device was ready to go, Grace gave the signal, and everyone activated their own personal shields. Grace hit the button on the controls in her hand and a loud roar immediately emanated from the device. The noise was loud enough to shake the ground beneath them, and more than one person almost lost his footing on the shaking ground.

Donnelly held a detector in his hands in order to monitor the air outside their shields. "The moisture in the air is decreasing," he shouted over the loud noise.

Seconds later, hail the size of bricks came pummeling to the ground. Captain Reynolds shrieked in surprise as the bricks hit the ground with such force, it sounded like small explosions going off at her feet.

The hail only lasted a few seconds and then everything went eerily quiet, the sound of the machine dropping from the screeching wail to a low hum.

"What's going on?" Bryant yelled, his ears still adjusting to the drastic noise change.

"The signal has passed our plane of existence," Grace announced, her eyes still on the device, searching for any sign of dysfunction.

"The humidity is back in the atmosphere, and the air is just fine, sir," Donnelly added.

Bryant nodded his head. "Good."

Just then, a large flash blinded the group briefly. Grace shielded her eyes with her arm. When the flash faded, she lowered her arm only to get blinded with another flash.

"What's happening?" Bryant yelled beneath his own arms.

Grace squinted her eyes to look towards the light. Her eyes blurred and watered before adjusting to the brightness. Standing in the middle of the bright lights were people.

"I think it worked," she gasped, almost a little bit too surprised by the success of her own work.

Bryant removed his arms and looked in the direction of the lights.

Slowly the lights faded, leaving behind two very normal looking humans.

No one from the group spoke. Just stared at the two newcomers.

"My name is Mallon and this is Ermin. We are, as you call us, the Ancients," the female announced.

"It worked?" Bryant asked, surprise in his voice as he turned to Grace, all but ignoring the two Ancients that just materialized before them.

Grace grinned, her eyes never leaving the two Ancients. "It worked."

"We have been aware of your weapon since General O'Neill contacted Atlantis," Mallon spoke in a sure voice.

"You have?" Bryant asked, his attention now fully on the two Ancients.

"Indeed. We have been monitoring the actions on Atlantis since it was re-inhabited over two decades ago. With the Ori invasion already underway in the Pegasus Galaxy, we were quite curious to see if your invention proved to work as was stated by O'Neill."

"So, it did, didn't it?" Grace asked, worried that the Ancients materialized on their own.

"Indeed it did," Ermin spoke up. "While Mallon did not resist the pull, I used all of my strength to remain as energy, but the device overpowered me only seconds after taking Mallon. Your invention is indeed the answer to destroying the Ori once and for all."

The group smiled in pride. It worked! It really worked!

Precisely eight hours after walking through the shimmering ring to another galaxy, Grace and SG-1 returned home, the smiles on their faces all the proof Jack needed to know the test was a success.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"You want me to what?" Grace cried out in disbelief.

"I know how it sounds, but it's not that bad," Jack tried to reassure her. "Cassie thinks this might be our only way at figuring out how you have your mother's memories."

"You want me to see a shrink?"

Jack sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face before sitting up in Grace's bed. The blanket fell down, resting just below his navel and exposing his tanned, muscular chest to the cool air. "Your genetic make-up is completely normal. No anomalies. You have no naquada in your blood and there is no bright red flags pointing and saying, here it is, this is why she has her mother's memories." He stopped talking and looked over at her. Her face was pink in frustration from being asked to see a shrink. Or perhaps from her recent orgasms, Jack wasn't sure, but his ego was betting on the latter.

Grace let out a long breath and shook her head slowly in disbelief. "A shrink? What good is a shrink going to do? What? Hypnosis?"

Jack frowned and scooted closer to her, sliding an arm around her waist in comfort. "Perhaps. Dr. Patterson is top in her field, and she does use hypnosis frequently. It might help."

Grace turned pleading blue eyes to Jack. "Do I have to?" she whined, making her look absolutely adorable to Jack.

Jack kept her gaze, sending his own silent message back to her baby blues. "If you want to be on the mission to the Ori Galaxy."

Grace grunted. "I _have_ to be on that mission, Jack!" she whined. "If something happens to the device while…"

"Then I guess you'll be seeing the shrink," Jack cut in, his determined face cracking ever so slightly to reveal his boyish smirk.

Grace groaned in defeat. "One session."

"Two," Jack countered.

"The mission leaves in two weeks! How am I supposed to fit in two sessions _and_ get everything prepared for the mission?"

Jack shrugged. "One session a week. How long the sessions last is up to Dr. Patterson. Deal?"

Grace raised an eyebrow and sized up Jack, sending tremors of familiarity to run through his body. How many times had Carter looked at him like that?

"Do I have any other options?"

"No."

"Fine, deal," she whined in a petulant tone and then crossed her arms over her chest, pouting.

"You going to stick your bottom lip out too?" Jack teased.

"Harumph," Grace practically growled.

Jack laughed. Then, in one swift move, he had her back pressed to the bed and was straddling her. "Pouting really doesn't suit you, Carter-Junior."

"Carter-Junior?" Grace asked, rolling her eyes.

"It's better than Shanahan," Jack told her, his lips coming down and nibbling on her collar bone.

"You don't like my dad much, do you?"

"Not much," Jack admitted before capturing her lips and successfully ending the conversation before it went further.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Jack woke up to the screeching sound of the house phone ringing. He buried his head under a pillow and groaned as it continued to ring.

"Grace!" he croaked out. She wasn't in the bed, so he assumed she was awake _somewhere_ in the house. "Grace!" he yelled again before his ears picked up on the shower running in the bathroom. He pulled off the pillow and turned his head towards the bathroom. The bathroom door was shut. Probably so she wouldn't wake him up. 'Yeah, so much for that,' he thought, stretching across the bed and picking up the annoying contraption.

"Hello," he said, his voice still raspy from sleep.

"Uh, hello. Is this Grace Shanahan's number?" a lady on the other end of the line asked.

"Yeah, she's in the shower, can I take a message?" Jack asked.

"Who are you?" the girl questioned.

"Who are you?" Jack returned.

"I'm Madison, Grace's sister. Are you her boyfriend?"

"I'm her boss," Jack replied cryptically.

"Her boss?"

"Uh-huh," Jack replied, sitting up in the bed.

"So, what is Grace's boss doing at her house at 6:30 in the morning while she's in the shower? And, oh, did I mention, you sound like you just woke up."

"Uhhh," Jack stammered. "Okay, you got me. I'm not just her boss."

Madison laughed. "Oh my God! I can't believe this!" she shrieked. "Grace, little perfect Grace is sleeping with her boss! Oh, this is too good to be true!"

"Uh, am I going to have to bribe you to keep your mouth shut?" Jack asked.

"Oh, I'm sure we could work something out….what did you say your name was?"

"Jack."

"Jack, I'm sure we can work something out. Although, this is pretty huge. Almost too big to keep to myself."

"I'm sure you'll find it in yourself to forget about this," Jack said in his best general tone.

Madison laughed, a sound that sounded almost evil and reminded him of a cross-breed between Pete and Hathor. "So, when Gracie gets out of the shower, let her know I called, and tell her I'm working on a proper payment to remain mum."

"Okay," Jack said, deciding he did not like this young Shanahan, whether she was still only a teenager or not.

He hung up and then joined Grace in the shower where he filled her in on his conversation with her younger sister. Grace found the whole situation hilarious and told him that Madison was the cliché middle child and as much as she reveled in getting her sisters in trouble, she was easily persuaded to keep quiet.

But, at the same time, Grace contemplated not calling Maddy back and seeing if she really would squeal on her. What would it hurt? Her dad had already disowned her and Renee would be happy she was dating, boss or not, so Maddy's dirt really was not a big deal.

Grace was happy. And, she didn't need or want her dad's approval. It seemed like the more time she spent away from her dad, the more comfortable she felt in her own body. It hadn't escaped her that she was grimacing whenever anyone called her Shanahan. Obviously, it hadn't escaped Jack either, and she surmised this was why he nicknamed her Carter-Junior. As much as she teased him about her new nickname, she secretly felt more real with that name than she did with her family name.

There was no doubt in her mind, she definitely had more of her mother running through her veins than she had of her father.

Much more.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	8. Chapter 8

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Eight:**

Dr. Patterson was an older woman in her late forties with salt and pepper hair, green eyes and a genuine smile that put all of her patients at ease immediately. Grace stepped into the woman's office and shut the door behind her.

"Ahh, Dr. Shanahan, it's a pleasure to meet you," the older woman greeted, reaching out to shake Grace's hand and then motioning for her to have a seat in the comfortable suede chair.

Grace grimaced at the greeting for a split-second before smiling at the older woman. "Please, call me Grace. It's nice to meet you too, doctor."

Dr. Patterson noticed the grimace and made a mental check to explore the cause of it. After a few minutes of small talk, Dr. Patterson started to dig into the mysterious memories of her mother.

"So, Grace, tell me, when was the first time you noticed you were having memories that were not your own?"

Grace shifted slightly in her seat and bit her bottom lip in concentration. "Uh, well, actually, I don't know exactly….uh, I didn't even realize they were memories until Jack, er, the general, uh General O'Neill told me I remembered something that had not been in a report."

"Not in a report?" the doctor questioned, jotting down the general's name in her notepad. There was obviously something between the two for the young woman to get so flustered over just saying his name.

"Um, yeah, I was given all of the mission reports for the original SG-1. As I read each of them, I could literally see the missions taking place, as if I had been there. I never really thought to much into it, but then I started remembering things that I hadn't read and then they mentioned genetic memory, and it really does make sense….," Grace rattled on.

Dr. Patterson nodded. "What was the first mission report you read that you could visualize?"

"Well, the first mission I could actually see happening was the first mission to retrieve Dr. Jackson from Abydos. Apophis had come through the gate and taken an officer hostage, killing other officers in the process, and General Hammond called me up and asked me personally to be on the team that went through the gate to find her. I had been thrilled."

Dr. Patterson made a mark in her notepad that Grace was referring to her mother's memories in first person. "That's the first time you felt this connection with your mother's past?"

Grace lowered her head. "No, not really," she sheepishly replied.

The doctor gave the young scientist a questioning look. "Can you elaborate?"

Grace cleared her throat, not for the first time feeling like a freak show. "The first mission report I read was the very first trip through the stargate. I, uh, I didn't see it happening, like all the other missions, but I did feel an overwhelming feeling of anger and betrayal."

"Do you know why?"

"Because I, er, she, my mom, she had been denied participation on the first mission. She had worked for over two years on the project. She was the one who had created the dialing computer. She studied the technology and device and knew more about it than any of the men going on the mission, and they wouldn't let her go."

"And, she was upset?"

"Yes."

"And you could feel that when you read the mission report?"

"Yes."

Dr. Patterson eyed the pretty woman up under her professional eye. She had read the report and files this clever young woman had worked on since joining the SGC, and she had also read the bullet-proof summary of her mother's file. There was no denying the fact that the two woman looked remarkably alike. And, were both amazingly brilliant astrophysicists.

"Have you ever experienced anything like this before joining the SGC?"

"No," Grace immediately responded and then dropped her head.

Dr. Patterson picked up on the behavior and jotted it down in her notepad. "Are you sure?"

Grace shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't want to talk about it?"

Grace sighed. "A little of both, maybe," she finally admitted, a look of guilt resting on her face.

Dr. Patterson shifted again in her seat. "Talking about it really does help," she told the distressed young lady.

Grace bit her lip and nodded. She had suppressed everything for so long, she was scared to let it out.

"Tell me about your childhood," Dr. Patterson tried to take a different approach. "You must have been an excellent student."

Grace let a small, almost sad smile cross her face briefly as the memories reemerged in her mind. "Yeah, school was unbelievably easy. I started reading when I was three. I just knew how. I looked at a word, and immediately knew what it was, without sounding anything out, or memorizing the words from books, I just knew them. And, when I started school, I knew everything there as well. When I was in the fourth grade, I told my teacher that there were equations wrong in a text book I found. It turned out that the text book had been brought in by her on accident with some other books from her home. It had been one of her textbooks from college. She had called up an old professor and he had admitted the mistakes in the textbook and told her that was why they had stopped using that version. After that I was tested and moved up several grades and put in a school for gifted children. Everyone gave me so much attention and praise, I started pretending like I didn't know the answers so they would leave me alone and think I was normal."

Dr. Patterson scribbled in her notebook as Grace talked. "How did your dad take you being so smart?" she asked, looking up to see the distraught look cross Grace's face.

"He, uh, he called me special. He said I was like my mom. He…was proud."

"Was he?" Dr. Patterson asked, causing Grace's eyes to dart up to the other woman's face. How could she ask her something like that?

"Yes, he was," Grace replied, frowning at the woman.

"Did he treat you like his other daughters?"

"What? Yes, he loved us all equally," Grace quickly defended.

Dr. Patterson set the pencil down on her desk and, once again, gave Grace a once-over. Sucking in her cheeks and biting on them from the inside, she let her brilliant mind sort out the behavior patterns of the woman before her. "Has your dad ever made you feel….uncomfortable about your intelligence?"

"What? No, never!" Grace quickly exclaimed in horror.

Dr. Patterson picked up her pen and continued writing in her notepad. "Your mom died when you were still a baby," she said, not really in a question.

"Yes," Grace replied coolly, she was starting to get irritated with the doctor's questioning. Her dad had nothing to do with figuring out how she had her mother's memories!

"Did you see a lot of your mom's family growing up?"

Grace lowered her head and fisted her hands in her lap. "No, there really isn't any. My maternal grandparents have been dead for a long time, and my uncle and dad no longer talk."

"Why?"

Grace closed her eyes, fighting back the memories from way back when. "I don't know."

"Are you sure you don't know? When was the last time they were friends?"

"I was just a kid, like eight or something."

"Like eight, or eight?" Dr. Patterson questioned, her eyes on her patient.

Grace bit her bottom lip again and blinked several times before answering. "I was eight. My cousins were teenagers at the time and my dad wanted me to spend the summer with them so I could get to know them before they went to college and started their own lives and would likely not see me anymore. But, after two weeks in California, my dad came out and picked me up and took me back home."

"Why?" Dr. Patterson asked.

Grace shrugged. "They never told me why, but I overheard them talking when my dad first got there. My Uncle Mark told my dad he couldn't deal with me, he said the things I said were scaring him."

"What did you say that had him scared?"

"That's just it, I don't remember saying anything that would scare him. I really don't know what I said. My dad questioned me the whole way home, asking me where I heard the stuff I said to Uncle Mark, and I didn't know what he was talking about."

"And, because of that, your dad and uncle don't talk anymore?"

Grace grimaced. "No, not exactly," Grace looked up at the doctor with that guilty look the doctor was getting used to seeing on her. "When I got back home I started having nightmares and acting strange. One night I woke up screaming and told my dad about the dream. He called my Uncle Mark screaming at him and asking him what he did to me, that I had been normal before I stayed with him. A couple weeks later, the dreams stopped and I was fine again."

"What was the dream?"

Grace let out a deep breath and diverted her gaze to her lap. "I dreamt that an alien parasite jumped inside me and took over my body."

"Sounds scary. Especially to an eight year old."

Grace nodded. "Yeah, it was. But, like I said, a couple weeks later and everything went back to normal.

Dr. Patterson flipped through some of the files on her desk, finding what she was looking for, she read it briefly and then looked back up at Grace. "Your mother was taken over by an alien parasite."

Grace nodded. "Yeah."

"Was this your nightmare?"

Grace shook her head. "Not exactly. My mom was taken over by a tok'ra, a good goa'uld, and it entered her through the mouth when she was giving its host resuscitation. My nightmare had the parasite leaping out of a body standing up and jumping at me, and he was definitely evil. Even now, I don't think it was a memory, just a fear manifesting itself in a nightmare."

"Hey, now, I'm the psychiatrist here," Dr. Patterson teased, resulting in a low chuckle from Grace.

"Sorry," Grace replied, a small smile still on her face.

"You feel like you're to blame for your dad and uncle's falling out."

Grace shrugged again. "It is my fault. If I wasn't such a freak, they would still be friends. They were friends before my mom and dad even met."

"It's not your fault you have these memories," the doctor pointed out.

Grace lowered her head. "No, but whatever happened back then, I obviously didn't try hard enough to control it. I could have. I could have acted normal at my Uncle Mark's, but I didn't. I don't know what I did, but it wasn't normal and I should have tried harder to fight it."

"You were eight years old. That's practically still a baby."

Grace nodded. "I felt much older."

The doctor scrutinized the distraught woman once more. "Next week I'd like to try hypnosis."

"What? Really?" Grace whined.

Dr. Patterson nodded. "I think it's the quickest way to get the answers we're searching for. From our talk today, I would say you have many more of your mother's memories buried in there, and I think hypnosis can pull them up and tell us how exactly you inherited her memories."

Grace licked her lips and slowly nodded as she looked up at the doctor. "Okay," she relented, wondering if they were doing the right thing or not.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Jack opened his eyes to the loud roar directly above him.

"DAD! What are you doing here!" Grace yelled next to Jack. At the same time, pulling the blanket up higher on them both.

"You, young lady, get up, get dressed, and get in the car! You're going home! And you! You low-life son-of-a-bitch! Don't think I don't know who you are! As soon as I heard your name, I pulled up everything I could on you! Do you really think you're going to take away my daughter like your dad took my wife?"

"What?" Jack groaned.

"Huh?" Grace asked in confusion.

"I read all about you, General O'Neill! Do you have any idea who he is, Gracie?" Pete barked at his daughter. "His dad is the man who killed your mom! He killed her! Just like he killed his other son!"

Grace felt Jack's body tighten next to her, and she reached out and touched him under the blankets, silently sending him her support.

"DAD! You don't know what you're talking about so just shut-up right now!" Grace yelled at her dad, just as Renee, Madison, and Brooklyn came running into her bedroom.

Jack groaned and sunk further beneath the sheets.

Pete turned around at the commotion. "What are you three doing here?" he snarled at his family.

Renee glanced at Grace and Jack in the bed and back at her husband. "We were worried. We got in my car and followed you."

"You shouldn't have. This doesn't involve any of you! This is between me and Grace."

"No, dad, it's not! You disowned me, remember? You have no say in my life."

"Grace Irene Shanahan!" Pete roared. "Get up and get in the car NOW!"

Jack turned to Grace and mouthed, 'Irene?'

Grace glared at him briefly, she hated that her dad insisted on his mother's name for her middle name, and knew Jack would tease her mercilessly about it for now on. Then, she turned back to her dad. "We're both naked under these sheets, you sure you want us to get up?" she challenged.

Pete fumed. "Get dressed!" he spat, turning around and marching out of the room.

Renee followed him, and after a quick glance at the naked man in bed with their sister, Madison and Brooklyn turned and left the room as well.

"I'm sorry," Grace immediately apologized to Jack as soon as the door clicked shut.

Jack pulled Grace closer to him and kissed her on the forehead. "Nothing to be sorry for, this isn't your fault. He was bound to find out. At least he doesn't know who I really am."

"He was way out of line to bring up Charlie," Grace said through clenched teeth, sure she had never been so mad at her dad before.

Jack rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "It's okay, not your fault, don't worry about it."

"Jack."

"No, NOT your fault Grace. Now, come on, let's get dressed and go face the music."

Grace frowned and then allowed Jack to pull her off the bed.

They took their time getting dressed, letting her family wait and wonder what they were doing behind the closed bathroom door. Finally, the couple emerged and joined the Shanahan's in the living room.

Pete seemed much more calm when they entered the living room. Most likely the result of Renee. "Dad," Grace greeted coolly, still not ready to forgive her father.

Pete turned and faced the couple. The familiarity of the man holding his daughter's hand taking him by surprise. "You really look like your dad," he stated, his voice still tight with anger.

Jack shrugged. "Thank you," he taunted, and Grace nudged him with her side.

Pete glared. "Sam never mentioned you. I was under the impression General O'Neill Sr. only had one son, who died."

Jack stared Pete straight in the eye and replied with the same excuse he had been using for the past 26 years. "My mother raised me alone in Minnesota. My dad had nothing to do with me as a child."

"Well, considering what happened to your brother…"

"DAD!" Grace warned.

Pete turned his attention back to his daughter. "I want you back home in Denver. This crap about following in your mom's footsteps is over."

"No."

"Excuse me, young lady," Pete roared.

"I'm not leaving, dad! How can you even suggest that? You know what she did in that mountain! You know how important her work was, how important MY work is! How could you even want me to leave it?"

"It killed her!"

"No! You did!" Grace screamed back. "You killed her and you know it! She never loved you! You got her pregnant and she SETTLED for you! That killed her! She was in love with someone else and you knew it all along!"

"Yeah, and it was HIM who sent her to her death! NOT ME! I never wanted her to go!"

"EXACTLY! You smothered her, dad! If you would have just left her alone, she might have spent more time with us. You smothered me, dad! You knew! All this time, you knew I had her memories, and you made me forget them!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT I DID!" Pete screamed. "It's not normal to know the things you know!"

"You thought I was a freak," Grace confronted him.

Pete glared. "I spent your whole life trying to keep you from being a freak. Whenever you started acting strange, I would take away whatever it was that did it! That's why you weren't allowed to go back to your Uncle Mark's, it's why I wouldn't let you go on that school trip to DC. It's why you couldn't join the military, why you couldn't come to Colorado Springs, and most definitely why you shouldn't be working at that damn mountain!"

"You can't stop it!" Grace yelled, her sister's eyes wide in fear and confusion. "Maybe I am a freak, but this is where I belong! I'm happy here. Happier than I've ever been…….. I'm home."

"Denver is your home!" Pete growled.

Grace shook her head slowly, her eyes not drifting from her father's. "No, it's not. It never has been. This place has always been my home."

"If you don't come home with me….."

Grace cut him off, her voice soft but sure in the small room. "I'm not, so say what you want and leave."

Pete growled and snorted before turning on his heels and stomping out the door. Renee chased after him while the girls remained frozen in their spots.

After a few minutes, the girls started to come around. Jack eyed the pudgier one up with a glint in his eye. "I thought you weren't going to say anything?"

Madison gulped. "How did you know it was me?"

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "I was trained to spot the enemy."

Madison's face paled. "It was an accident, I swear!" she squeaked.

Grace patted Jack's arm. "Jack, quit scaring my sister," she scolded.

"Yes, ma'am," Jack said, looking sheepish.

The couple turned to leave the living room and barely heard Brooklyn whisper, "he's so hot!"

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

For the rest of the week, Jack and Grace were inseparable. Grace refused to talk about her fight with her dad and Jack knew her indifference over the situation was a Carter trait, and he was determined to help her through it.

They were chatting in his office. Jack was teasing her about the mole on her left breast when Cassie knocked on the door and stepped inside.

"Hey, Cass," Jack greeted cheerfully.

Cassie tried to smile, but it was more of a frown. "Good, you're both here. I, uh, I need to talk to you, both of you….it's important."

Jack sat up more in his seat and Grace's smile fell at the doctor's grim words. "What is it, Cassie?" she asked, her wide blue eyes looking worriedly at Cassie.

Cassie looked like she was about to cry. Taking a deep breath, she plunged in, almost on autopilot and started to explain her recent discovery. "I was, er, entering Grace's information into the computer. We, uh, had used the Asgaard's DNA scanner on her because ours was unavailable at the time."

"The wand that looks like a metal detector?" Jack cut in.

Cassie nodded. "Yes, that one. As you know, we made our own design off of their original one, but it was being recalibrated at the time, so I used the Asgaard's. I scanned her body and hooked it up to a computer in the lab to print off the results, but we were looking for abnormalities and I completely overlooked it…"

"What is it, Cassie?" Jack asked gently.

Cassie took in a deep breath and trained her eyes on Jack. Swallowing, she announced, "When I entered in Grace's DNA information into the main computer it pumped up two matches for her DNA."

"Two?" Grace asked with a frown.

Cassie nodded, finding it hard to breathe. "Yes, Colonel Samantha Carter and General Jack O'Neill."

"What?" both Jack and Grace gasped.

"What are you saying?" Grace fought to get out, desperately hoping she misheard Cassie.

"I'm sorry," Cassie whispered. "We've been so busy in the infirmary and the results were on a rush, and I overlooked it, and I assumed if they slept together, you would have known about it."

"What are you saying?" Grace repeated, her face scrunched up as if she were about to sob.

Cassie looked at her, grief covering the doctor's face. "I'm sorry, Grace. The DNA brought up your mom and Jack, and nothing on Pete Shanahan."

"My dad?" Grace whimpered.

"Is General O'Neill. I'm sorry, Grace," Cassie told her, her own voice cracking with misery.

Grace looked at Jack, her face scrunched up in shock over Cassie's news. Her face paled and she clutched her stomach. "Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick."

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a/n: I would like to take this time to announce that NO, I do not promote incest, and to remind everyone that the story is not over yet………………………………...(hint, hint)


	9. Chapter 9

a/n: I was so happy with all the "ew" reviews! It was exactly the reaction I was going for! LOL, why yes, I am evil, but only for so long, then I make everything nice and pretty for the ending. Sheesh, you people should know me by now! Story is almost done, only a couple more chapters left.

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Chapter Nine:

Cassie knocked lightly on the door to Grace's lab. It had been three days since she broke the news of Grace's paternity and both Grace and Jack were avoiding each other at all costs.

Grace looked up at the knock. "Hi," she softly greeted. "Come in."

Cassie walked in the dark lab and took a seat on a stool. "How are you?" she asked, tentatively.

Grace shrugged and looked down at her lab table. "I'm fine," she said, not at all convincingly.

Cassie sighed. "He's the commanding officer of the base, you can't avoid him forever."

Grace let out a low groan. "I'm not avoiding him."

"Really?" Cassie said sarcastically. "Have you seen or talked to him since bolting out of his office three days ago."

Grace grimaced at her lab table. "No."

Cassie just looked at the forlorn woman, her heart going out to her. She had fallen in love with someone and then found out he was, in a way, her father. How could anyone survive that mentally?

When Cassie didn't say anything, Grace continued. "What am I supposed to say, hey dad, how's it going, did I tell you how good you were in bed the other day? This is just……wrong."

"I know," Cassie replied. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you."

Grace looked up and met the eyes of her friend. "Did you know? About my mom and the original?"

Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to think of an appropriate response. She shrugged. "I didn't know, know. I always suspected there was more going on between them. They really were deeply in love with each other, but it had always been forbidden. When Sam got pregnant with you she rushed right out and married Pete. I never understood how she could just marry him so quickly just because she was pregnant. It wasn't the 1950's. It was 2004! Women were staying single, having babies, and living successful lives without getting married, and Sam was the strongest, most independent woman I had ever met. She didn't have to get married. So, I always wondered if you were really Jack's and she was trying to protect him by not raising any suspicions with having a baby out of wedlock."

"Why didn't you say anything to me?" Grace asked in a low voice.

Cassie slowly shook her head. "I figured if your mom and Jack had been sleeping together, they would have been doing it before Jack was cloned. But, he swears they never slept together before he was cloned, and once he started dating you, he didn't seem to have any doubt that you were Pete's kid, so I didn't see any reason to bring it up."

"I should have known better," Grace groaned.

Cassie looked at her with a questioning look. "This isn't your fault, Grace."

"Yes it is," Grace quickly replied. "It is my fault. I LET it happen. I knew he loved my mom. I knew there had been something great between them, and I didn't care. I had allowed myself to fall in love with him and I didn't care where his heart really lied, I just wanted him."

"Grace, he knew you weren't your mom," Cassie started.

Grace shook her head. "No, no he didn't. Not really. I look like her, I act like her, I knew this and I used it to get him. I came right out and told him so," Grace looked up at Cassie. "That first night in DC, I told him the only difference between me and my mom was that there were no regulations in our way. I used my mom to make him love me." A tear ran down Grace's face. "And, I didn't even care! I had him, and that was all I cared about. I knew it wasn't me he really wanted." Grace wiped away a second tear and looked at Cassie, her broken heart visible for all to see. "He even called me Carter. And I didn't care! I just ignored it, he called me Carter," and with that, Grace broke down in sobs.

Cassie soothed the brokenhearted woman the best she could, rubbing her back and murmuring unintelligible words in her ear to calm her down. Cassie hadn't felt this sad since Sam's memorial service 23 years ago. When the sobs and tears slowed down and finally stopped, Cassie handed Grace a handful of tissues and hugged her tightly before letting go and letting her clean up.

"For what it's worth, I had fought with Jack about him dating you, and he really did seem to know you were Grace, not Sam. He told me that even with so much of Sam in you, you were still Grace. And, I believed him."

Grace snorted indignantly as she wiped her face with the tissues. "Doesn't make much of a difference now, does it?"

Cassie sighed and watched the young woman pat at her face, leaving behind blotches of red around her eyes and cheeks. "You know, he isn't your father. Not really. He never slept with your mom. He was obviously already his own person by then. They have the same DNA, but they are two separate people now."

Grace grunted. "So what, am I just supposed to forget that he's the clone of my biological father? Or better yet, should I just run off and have a bunch of mutated children with him?"

Cassie frowned at the mental image. "No. I'm just trying to make this a little less disturbing for you."

Grace gave the older woman a tight smile. "Thanks, but I don't think that's possible. No matter how you look at it, I am in love with my father's clone, you can't get any less disturbing than that."

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Mike knocked on the general's door and then cringed when he heard the general going off on the poor sergeant in the office. Cassie was so going to owe him big time for this!

"This is wrong! This one isn't even the right file, and where the hell did you get this one?" Jack's angry voice sounded out into the hallway. "Where did you say you got your degree from? Idiot School? FIX THIS!"

"Yes, sir," cried the sergeant, and then a second later, came rushing out of the general's office, files all askew in his arms, and his face beet red from the heated dressing down he just received.

"What the hell do you want?" Jack's voice barked, and Bryant looked up to see the irate general staring right at him.

Mike cleared his throat and stepped into Jack's office. "Uh, just came to see how things are going," he meekly replied, still hovering by the door for a quick escape.

"Just peachy," Jack sarcastically replied. "And you can tell your irritating wife that I do not need to see the damn shrink and she better not have sent you down here to talk me into it!"

Bryant cringed again. "Cassie didn't say anything to me about a shrink."

"Good," Jack replied, plopping down into his seat like a dead weight. "I don't need to see a shrink," he murmured under his breath, his body exhausted from the constant state of rage he had been in for the last three days.

"Sooo," Bryant cautiously drawled out. "You're still going on this mission with us?"

Jack lifted his head off of his hands and frowned at his second-in-command. "Yes, why the hell wouldn't I?"

"No reason," Mike quickly responded, trying to avoid sending Jack into another fit of rage.

"This attack is our one chance to switch the tide of war. I am the most qualified, I'm going. The president himself insists."

Bryant just nodded, having no idea what to say without having his very existence threatened.

Jack eyed the colonel suspiciously. "Once we defeat the Ori, the Priors will no longer have any power, the Ori followers should either surrender, or be easier to defeat without the power of the Ori. This mission has to be successful."

"I understand that, sir," Bryant replied. "And, may I just say, I am thrilled to have you leading this mission. But, with recent…uh…personal events….if you need to talk, I'm always available."

Jack sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "I appreciate that, colonel, but like I've been telling your nagging wife, I'm fine. I don't need to see a shrink, I don't need to talk, and I sure the hell don't need anyone reminding me that I fell for someone who is essentially my daughter!"

Bryant frowned in discomfort, not knowing what to say, and wondering how much trouble he would get in if he just stood up and fled through the door and safely back to his own office without being dismissed first. Before taking any action, a bright light engulfed the room and temporarily blinded Bryant.

"Skaara!" Jack cried in happiness and stood up.

"O'Neill!" the young ascended Abydonian replied, just as happy to see the cranky general.

"What brings you by?" Jack asked, forgetting all about his shocked second-in-command.

"I come bearing bad news, O'Neill," Skaara announced.

"Oh?" Jack asked, concern etched across his features.

"Indeed. It appears that your test in the Pegasus Galaxy has gotten back to the Ori. As we speak, several priors in this galaxy are combining their forces and planning an all-out attack on earth in order to destroy your new weapon."

"How long do we have?" Jack asked.

"The Ancients believe that it will take them several days to organize for an attack. If you are to plan an attack on the Ori, now is the time to move."

Jack nodded. "Thank you, Skaara. I'll call the president. Bryant, start calling up the troops, we're leaving tonight."

"Yes, sir," Bryant replied, and headed out to do as ordered.

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Within the hour, Daniel and Vala arrived at the SGC and the large group of men and women who had volunteered for the impending mission were geared up and assembled in the gate room.

Grace stayed close to the weapon. She had improved the carrier it sat in so that it could hover in the air instead of roll on wheels to allow better maneuverability. She had also improved the shielding on the machine and updated the remote for easier use.

Extra gear had been added to the list after the initial test. Everyone was now equipped with special sunglasses to avoid being blinded when the ascended retook human form. And, Bryant made sure to prepare the troops to keep their footing when the machine first started up and emitted the loud noise that shook the ground mercilessly.

After Jack made a short speech about how this mission was more than likely the most important mission they would ever be a part of, the technician activated the stargate and the troops began filing out through the wormhole.

Grace stayed with the machine, using the remote control to move the device through the event horizon. Jack kept his eye on her the whole time. It was not in a fatherly way.

On the other side of the wormhole, Grace was impressed by the large ship that was parked a hundred feet in front of the stargate. The troops immediately started entering the ship and Grace noticed the large black warrior who stood by the entrance talking to Jack. It was Teal'c.

She made her way forward, and just before she reached him, Daniel and Vala stopped in front of her.

"Teal'c!" Daniel greeted. "It feels like it's been forever."

"Indeed, Daniel Jackson, it has been seventeen months since I was last in this galaxy and more than 23 months since we have spoken face-to-face. It is pleasing to see you once again."

"Ah, Teal'c, you always have such a way with words," Vala spoke up.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "It is a pleasure to see you once again as well, Vala."

"Yeah, well, what can I say, it wasn't like I could send little old Daniel here to do this by himself."

"I know how to get to the Ori palace, I was there too, you know?" Daniel whined.

"Yes, dear, but it was a long time ago, and your mind is just as old as the rest of you."

"And what about you?" Daniel said indignantly.

"I lived in the Ori galaxy for a year, darling, my mind remembers much more of it than yours," Vala replied, patting Daniel's bald head.

Daniel groaned.

Jack laughed.

And Teal'c ignored them as his eyes settled on the young woman who looked exactly like his long lost friend when she was only but a captain.

Jack followed Teal'c's gaze and forced himself not to think of her sexually as he took in the adorable young woman, dressed in military fatigues, a large helmet, and a back pack that probably weighed more than she did.

Jack coughed. "Ah, Teal'c, this is Grace. Carter's…..kid."

Teal'c bowed, warmth radiating from his eyes. "Grace Shanahan, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance once again," he greeted, overlooking the grimace from both Grace and Jack at the word, Shanahan.

Grace smiled back. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Teal'c," she told the large man and shook his hand.

Jack found himself gazing at the young woman longer than appropriate, and clapped his hands loudly to get everyone moving. "Alright kids, let's get this show on the road."

The group were the last ones on the ship, and Teal'c immediately took the helm. "We will arrive at the super gate in just over an hour."

Jack nodded and headed off to check on the troops.

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Within two hours, the super gate was activated and the earth ship entered the galaxy of the Ori. It was immediately under attack and Jack, Grace, and all the troops were beamed to the planet while Teal'c retreated back through the super gate to await confirmation of their victory.

The planet wasn't much better than space, and the group was immediately under fire. Jack led them to cover, and many natives were taken out with the human's upgraded weapons that the primitive villagers were unaware of.

"Which way?" Jack yelled to Daniel and Vala.

After a few seconds of arguing with each other, they both agreed on a direction, and Jack motioned for the troops to start moving out. Jack found himself next to Grace. He told himself, it was his job to make sure the weapon was kept safe at all costs, but deep down he knew he felt better knowing it was he who had her six.

It seemed to take forever to get to the ring platform that would deposit them close to the Ori Palace. With most of the Ori priors and troops fighting in other galaxies, resistance was minimal, and they had no problem getting to the rings.

Jack sent SG-1 and SG-3 up in the rings first in case the Ori were waiting for them. After a few seconds, Jack moved Grace, the machine, himself, and Daniel and Vala onto the rings and activated them again.

Surprisingly, there was no resistance waiting on the other side. Jack knew it would only remain this way for a short amount of time, and as the first two teams had already set up a small perimeter, Jack ordered Grace to start the machine in the middle of the men.

Grace, personal shields already activated since entering the galaxy, switched the device on and then grounded her feet for the loud noise and shaking.

As the machine whirred to life, more troops continued to come up with the rings, and as they were pelted with hail, the last of the troops took their position around the device.

Only seconds after the machine came to life, twelve priors appeared around the perimeter and encircled it. The hail fell all around them, but never close enough to injure any of them. Just as Grace heard the device turn from the loud roar to the soft hum, the Prior lifted their staffs and a blue light started shooting from one staff to the next.

"Shit!" Jack groaned, knowing the priors were combining their powers to take out the device. The blue light reached the last prior and Jack braced himself for a hit.

But, instead, the blue light disappeared completely, and bright lights started flashing everywhere. With their protective eyewear, the troops were able to see the Ori retake human form even with the bright flash of lights, and immediately, gun fire sounded as the men and women took out the human Ori.

Grace stayed low to the ground, her back up against the device's shield. She watched under her sunglasses as the bright lights flashed and dulled and bodies littered the ground. She practically jumped out of her skin when a flash appeared right in front of her and forced her back against the shield.

The Ori, his face in a deep scowl, lurched at Grace, meeting her shield in surprise, but still knocking her to her feet.

Out of nowhere, Jack appeared next to her and threw the man off of her, standing above him, he shot him over and over again in the chest. Finally, he stopped and turned to her, his eyes filled with a darkness she had never seen before.

"Are you okay?" he asked desperately.

Grace nodded, her blue eyes still wide in fear.

Jack nodded back then turned and, upon seeing two new forms flash in to human form, yelled, "hold fire!"

Grace jerked her head up to see why Jack was yelling, and there, she saw a sight she never expected to see before joining the SGC and having her life turned upside down.

There, standing in the bright light, was her mother, Lt. Col. Samantha Carter. She looked just like she did the day she disappeared. Not that Grace would know, but there were still many there who did. And, holding her hand, looking slightly older than the version she had grown very familiar with, was Major General Jack O'Neill.

Jack Jr. grabbed a couple of guns and threw them at the couple who immediately turned them on the Ori and helped to finish off the large-scale massacre.

What felt like hours of constant gun shots and blood, the battle finally died down and ended. Grace, who hadn't fired a shot, felt exhausted. Even having all of her mother's memories, seeing a battle, being right smack-dab in the middle of it, was like nothing she could have imagined. Her innocence was now officially gone. Not firing a shot, she was still a main part in the war. She had turned on the device that had made the enemy completely vulnerable, and she sat back and watched each and everyone of them die at the hands of her friends and family.

She felt exhausted, mentally.

Finally, Jack gave her the signal to kill the device, and Grace shut off the machine.

It was quiet in the aftermath. Everyone looking around, seeing the devastation and death all around them. Some, fighting to keep the vomit from coming up. They had done this. They had killed them all. And, even knowing they were evil, they would have done much worse to them, not just taking their lives, but their souls as well, everyone felt sickened by their actions.

But, it was a good feeling, because it reminded them that they were human. That they were good. Killing was not done for fun. It was not enjoyed. It was done to save the innocent, to save the universe.

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It was Jack Sr. who first noticed Grace. Her pale face looking around the blood-stained battle field, still remaining next to her beloved device.

He stared at her, his mind not comprehending what his eyes were seeing. Finally, he found his voice, a voice he had not used in a very long time. "Carter?" he spoke, his eyes still locked on the younger version of the woman beside him.

"Sir?" her sweet voice sounded beside him.

He nodded his head in the direction he was staring, and Carter followed his gaze.

"Oh my God," she said in a low voice. "She looks like me."

"Who is she?" he asked.

Carter shrugged. "I don't know, let's go find out," and the couple walked towards the device, still hand-in-hand.

Grace looked up and into the eyes of her mother and…..the original.

"Hi," her mother said.

"Hi," she replied, all of a sudden feeling nervous.

Just then, her Jack appeared at her side. "Carter, Jack," he greeted them, resting a hand on the middle of her back in support.

"Uh, Jack?" the original asked, his eyebrows raised remarkably high.

"Yes, who'd you think?" Jack quipped back.

Carter narrowed her eyebrows at him. "You look so grown up."

"Uh, yeah, it happens, you know," Jack Jr. replied sarcastically.

"How long were we gone?" Sam asked in concern, her eyes still on Jack Jr., Grace completely forgotten next to him.

Jack Jr. cleared his throat. "Twenty-three years."

"What?" Jack gasped.

Sam gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

Just then Daniel and Vala walked up and greeted the original Jack and Sam.

Jack couldn't stop looking at Daniel's bald head, and Vala couldn't stop laughing at the general's expression.

"It's really been 23 years?" Sam asked in a broken voice.

"You didn't know?" Grace's soft voice spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back to her.

Daniel stepped in. "Ascended beings have no distinction of time. What was 23 years to us, probably only felt like a few weeks or months to Jack and Sam."

Grace turned confused eyes to her mother for confirmation.

"It has only felt like a few months," Jack announced, rubbing a hand over his face, something that Grace recognized as an action Jack Jr. often did.

"Who are you?" Sam asked Grace. Even knowing how many years had passed, not putting two and two together.

"I'm Grace."

"Grace?" Sam asked, her heart beat picking up, a feeling she hadn't felt in a very long time.

Grace nodded and Jack Jr. slowly started rubbing her back in comfort.

Taking human form after so long in another plane of existence was hard on the mind and body. Although they were back in human form, their minds were still fighting to return to the conscious world, and Sam took longer than normal for everything to click in place. But, there was no argument by those around her of when it was that everything finally fit together in her mind.

Sam's hand came up and covered her mouth and she began sobbing out right. Jack reached out and wrapped her in his arms, giving her the comfort she needed as it finally dawned on her that the woman before her was the baby girl she had left behind so long ago.

"Grace!" she cried, her heart needing to feel her daughter, to make contact with the baby she had lost seeing grow up. She reached out and Grace stepped into her mother's embrace.

Jack Jr. put his hand down, watching in love at the reunion of mother and daughter, with Jack Sr. still holding on to his Sam.

It had been a tear-jerker reunion, and when mother and daughter finally separated, they were far from the only ones wiping tears out of their eyes.

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They spent several days cleaning up the mess of the battle and convincing the locals that the Ori were not Gods. Teal'c returned with fresh supplies and Grace returned to earth, her whole life changed from when she left it.

Jack and Sam were greeted with a hero's return and Grace had quietly retreated to her lab during the celebrations. It was there that she allowed everything that had happened catch up to her. And, what had been pure joy at her reunion with her mother, turned to anger as she recalled what she had inevitably lost at the knowledge of who her true father was.

She had lost the only love she had ever really known.

She had lost Jack.

And it was her mother's fault.

She felt it was best for everyone for her to remain in her lab. Unfortunately, before long, a troop of people arrived at her quiet little refuge. Jack, Sam, Jack Jr., Cassie, Daniel, and Teal'c showed up in her office, out of the blue.

Grace could have pretended. She could have accepted her mother's choice and moved on, but no. Jack Jr. was leaning against the far wall, a far away look in his eyes, and her mom and the original were flaunting their love for each other, right in front of everyone.

They were so close, they could have fit in one body. Grace was pretty sure they had never stopped touching each other the entire time they were in her lab, and it was irritating her more and more as she watched them blissfully happy while she and Jack Jr. were miserable.

Finally, she snapped. Turning on her mother, her eyes full of rage, she growled. "How could you?"

Sam looked at her daughter bemused. "How could I what?"

"How could you settle for Pete? How could you lie to everyone about who my father was? Why? Because of you, my life is ruined!"

Sam was shocked, she had no idea what Grace was implying. "Grace, what are you talking about? I never lied about your father. Pete Shanahan is your father."

Grace shook her head ferociously. "No! No he isn't! Cassie ran a test. She said I have the DNA of you and General O'Neill. There is no Pete Shanahan in here!"

Sam glanced at Cassie and back to her daughter and shook her head. "That's not possible. General O'Neill can't be your father. We never slept together. The only one I had been with at that time was Pete Shanahan. The test is wrong."


	10. Chapter 10

a/n: Unfortunately, life is taking me away from my computer for about two or three months. I am trying hard to finish this story, but I still have one more chapter left. I want to have it finished today, so hopefully, the last chapter will be up today. Other than that, I will not be able to finish my other WIP "Forgotten Identity" until I return. And, obviously there won't be anymore stories from me for awhile. But, I'll think of you all while I'm gone.

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**Chapter Ten:**

Upon hearing Carter say the test was wrong, Cassie spoke right up. "The test can't be wrong!" she exclaimed indignantly. "It's Asgaard."

"Did you retest her?" Sam asked.

Cassie stared back at Sam defiantly. "It's Asgaard!" she whined, knowing she should have double checked the results by running another test, something her mother never would have screwed up on.

"So, you went off one result?" Jack piped up, still finding himself surprised every time he looked up and saw Cassandra Frasier as an older woman.

Cassie lowered her head in submission. "We've been extremely busy in the infirmary, and it wasn't even what we were looking for when we ran the test, and we've never had any Asgaard technology give false information, and if it was going to, why Jack's?"

Jack looked over at Grace, and then to Sam. "Good question."

Sam bit her bottom lip and narrowed her eyebrows. "Yes, it is," she replied. "Can you retest her now?"

"Right now?" Cassie asked in surprise.

Sam shrugged. "Why not? We're all here, and I know I never slept with Jack."

"Never?" Jack Jr. piped up and everyone in the room turned and looked at the recently descended couple.

Jack and Sam looked at each other, passing a personal conversation between them through their eyes alone.

"No," Sam finally spoke up, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear, but her eyes never leaving Jack's. "We've never had _physical _intercourse."

"Physical?" Grace questioned, not entirely sure she really wanted her mother to elaborate.

Sam turned her gaze to her daughter. "As ascended beings we had no physical bodies."

"But," Daniel spoke up, just as curious as the younger group. "You did share something?"

Sam bit her bottom lip and Jack pulled her into his chest,. Ever since they retook human form, he felt bereft if he wasn't in bodily contact with her somehow. "We shared something more….spiritual….and intimate," he finished for Sam.

"Like what you shared with Orlin?" Grace asked, having all of her mother's memories from that incident.

Sam cocked her head. "A little, but what Jack and I shared was much more intense and…..intimate."

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.

"So, do you want to be retested?" Sam asked her daughter.

Grace glanced over at Jack Jr., still standing by the door, involved in the chatting, yet separate at the same time. Her heart beat sped up. Holy Hannah, how she wanted the test to be wrong! She nodded and hopped off her stool. "Yeah, sounds good, let's go."

Cassie, still convinced that the Asgaard technology could not be wrong, led the group down to the infirmary. They all circled around Cassie and Grace as Cassie pulled out the DNA scanner.

"That's not the one you used last time," Grace noted.

Cassie looked at the wand in her hand. "No, this one is completely human-made. We based it off the Asgaard one though, and it works just as well."

Grace nodded and then stood still while Cassie scanned her body with the wand. When she was done, she hooked the device up to the computer in the infirmary and uploaded the recent information on to the computer.

Jack and Sam seemed to hover around Grace as they waited for the results. Daniel and Teal'c talked a few feet away with Vala, who had joined them during their trek to the infirmary, and Jack Jr. remained by the door.

Cassie waited in front of the computer, and when it dinged and a new window popped up, Cassie immediately started typing. She found Grace's new results and pulled them on to the screen.

"What does it say?" Jack asked from beside Sam.

Cassie hit a few more keys and then read, "DNA match results for Shanahan, Grace, Dr., one, Carter, Samantha, Lt. Col."

"That's it?" Sam asked.

Cassie nodded. "That's it." She typed in, O'Neill, Jack, Major General, match with, Shanahan, Grace, Dr. and waited as the computer ran the information. Seconds later, another window popped up.

"Well?" Jack asked.

Cassie shook her head, a look of astonishment on her face. "No match."

"So then, General O'Neill isn't my father?" Grace asked with wide blue eyes.

Cassie looked up. "But, the Asgaard technology is never wrong."

"Use the Asgaard wand again," Grace suggested.

Cassie nodded along with everyone else and grabbed the wand she had used the first time on Grace. She scanned Grace and then uploaded the information into the computer.

Grace bit her lip as she waited for the results. A few seconds later, Cassie looked up with a disbelieving look on her face. "No match."

"So the first test was wrong?" Grace asked, not daring to even sneak a peak at Jack Jr.

"I-I guess," Cassie stuttered. "I don't know how, we've never had any false results before."

Sam walked up next to Cassie and started reading the information off of the computer screen. "Well, it looks like the Asgaard scanner does more than the human one."

"Yes, we didn't need everything the Asgaard had on theirs, so we cut off a few things in our design. It works quite well," Cassie told her.

"And the Asgaard scanner has a more sufficient power source," Sam added, still reading through the two different scanners.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, we don't have the same power capabilities as the Asgaard, so we had to compensate for less power. The Asgaard scanner is stronger, but ours works well enough for our uses for it."

"The Asgaard scanner is stronger?" Sam asked.

"Uh-huh," Cassie confirmed, nodding her head.

"So, it could have picked up General O'Neill's DNA if it was on her somehow when you scanned her?"

Cassie shook her head. "No, it would have had to be inside her for it to…….oh crap!"

The older part of the group all stared at Cassie in curiosity, while Grace and Jack Jr. had identical looks of realization on their faces as Cassie.

"What?" Sam asked.

Cassie looked at Grace and then over to Jack Jr., who had taken a closer step to the group. She grimaced. "I did scan her right after you two came back from DC."

Jack Jr. nodded and walked up behind Grace, placing his hand on her waist.

Jack crossed his hands across his chest and glared at the three younger members before him. "Alright, none of this talking in code crap, we've been out of it for way too long, now tell us what the hell you're talking about."

"I never even considered it," Cassie announced, resulting in another glare from Jack.

"What is it?" Sam asked. "You know why the scanner gave a false result?"

Cassie, Grace, and Jack Jr. all nodded.

"Well, why?" Jack cried impatiently.

"General O'Neill's DNA was inside Grace, and I had no idea the Asgaard scanner would be able to pick it up," Cassie told them, reluctant to say more.

"How was my DNA in Grace?" Jack asked.

"It wasn't your DNA," Grace quietly replied.

Everyone's eyes turned to Jack Jr. and it was then that most of them noticed his hand gently resting on Grace's waist. "Oh?" Jack questioned, and then a few seconds later continued, "So, care to share how my clone's DNA ended up inside you?"

Grace leaned back slightly against Jack Jr., the feel of his body giving her the strength she needed to continue. She swallowed, failing to replenish her dry mouth in any way. "His sperm," was all she said. If they couldn't figure it out from there, she wasn't going to be the one to explain it.

Sam's eyes shot from Grace to Jack Jr. and she narrowed her eyes and glared at the younger version of Jack. "_You _had sex with my daughter _and_ didn't wear any protection?"

"I-I, we, uh, it was the spur of the moment, uhm, just the first time was unprotected," Jack stuttered out, at the same time, finding it immensely odd and frustrating that the woman he had fantasized about way more than normal was now lecturing him about having unprotected sex with her daughter.

"Just the first time?" Jack squawked from behind Sam, feeling somewhat jealous of his younger clone.

"How many times have you had sex with my daughter?" Sam exclaimed.

Jack Jr. set his other hand on Grace's other hip and pulled her fully against his chest. "You really want that answer?" he asked in sarcasm.

Grace grinned. Who knew the day would end like this? As hard as she tried, she could not keep her happiness from showing. He was not her father! Her relationship with Jack Jr. was not disgusting, revolting, perturbing, nauseating, or in any way, incestual. Thank God!

Jack shifted on his feet, his glare still residing on his chiseled face. "Wouldn't the Asgaard have compensated for something like that?"

"Not necessarily, sir," Sam piped up, her scientist persona back full-force. "The Asgaard have no form of sexual reproduction, it is very likely they never even considered this outcome."

Jack stared at Sam for a few seconds before blurting out, "Really?"

Sam grinned. "Yes, sir," she laughed.

"They did modify this scanner for human use, but I think you're right, Sam, they probably completely overlooked the fact that it was strong enough to pick up the DNA from sperm," Cassie added.

"So then we're sure, Carter never drugged me and raped me in my sleep?" Jack asked with a grin twitching at the corner of his lips.

"No, sir," Sam replied, rolling her eyes.

"Damn! There goes that fantasy," Jack teased, resulting in a slap in the arm from Sam.

"Well," Jack proclaimed, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. "I think today has been a long enough day…"

"Uh, there's still something else," Jack Jr. cut in, gaining everyone's attention.

"Okay," Jack replied, waiting for the something else, and hoping it wasn't going to keep him away from his bed for much longer.

"Grace has genetic memory," Jack Jr. announced.

"What?" several people gasped in the room.

"You have all my memories?" Sam asked, facing her daughter.

Grace nodded. "Not all of them, but a lot."

"How?" Sam asked.

"That's what we'd like to know," Jack Jr. replied.

"So, you've known all along what I did at the SGC?"

Grace shook her head. "No, I had no idea. Other than knowing things I shouldn't, a few odd dreams, and being really good at school, I really didn't start having actual visions of your memories until I started working here. Something about this place, the familiarity, it just clicked in my mind like a missing puzzle piece, and as soon as I started reading your mission reports, I could actually see it happening."

"Cool!" Jack exclaimed in his boyish way.

"She doesn't have any naquada in her blood and every test we've run on her came back completely normal," Jack Jr. filled Sam in.

Sam bit her bottom lip in concentration, thinking of how her daughter could have inherited her memories.

"Dr. Patterson was going to try hypnosis and see if that gave us any ideas. I was supposed to go before the mission, but it was moved ahead and I missed my appointment," Grace announced.

"I think that might be our best option at solving this at this point," Sam replied, and Grace nodded.

Jack Jr. shrugged. "So, set up a time tomorrow?' he asked, looking down at Grace in front of him.

Grace nodded again and the room fell silent.

"So, if that's all, can I hit the hay now?" Jack asked a moment later.

Everyone in the room agreed and they started filing out of the infirmary.

Jack headed for the door and Sam hugged Grace good-night and gave Jack Jr. a teasing glare.

"You coming, Carter?" Jack whined impatiently from the door.

Sam grinned happily at Jack and walked up to him. He reached out, grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.

Grace turned to face Jack Jr. and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. "You're not," she really didn't know how to finish her sentence.

Jack didn't need her to. "No, I'm not," he quietly replied, and kissed her on the top of her head. He gently ran circles over her back with his fingers and relished in the feel of her warm body pressed against his. "Come home with me."

Grace's heart stopped and she bit her lip. Indecision swept through her body. A moment later she nodded her head. "Okay."

She felt Jack's body relax at her answer, filling her with love. He had been just as nervous as she.

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Grace woke up the next morning and rolled over on to her back, coming face-to-face with deep brown eyes.

"Good morning," he said, a grin already donning his face.

Grace couldn't help but grin back. "Good morning," she replied, still a little groggily. "How long have you been awake?"

Jack shrugged. "Half hour, tops."

Grace's grin grew as she gazed hazily at her lover. "Have you been staring at me the whole time?"

Jack's grin broke out into a full-blown smile. "Maybe," he teased.

Grace laughed and rolled her eyes, pulling his face down for a good morning kiss.

When they separated seconds later, Jack started running soothing circles over her exposed belly. He had been studying his work for awhile in silence before he finally looked up at Grace, his eyes full of seriousness. "I want to tell you something," he said, his voice exposing his nervousness.

Grace stuck her tongue out, licking her dry lips, worry etching across her sleepy face. "What is it?"

Jack took a deep breath and let it out, his eyes returning to his busy hand on her belly. "The original, he, uh, he's madly in love with your mom."

"Yeah, I got that already," Grace replied, trying to lighten the serious mood.

Jack just nodded, never taking his eyes off her belly, and Grace knew he missed the teasing in her voice. "Up until I was cloned, I was essentially him."

"I know that," she replied quietly.

Jack nodded again and continued. "I couldn't stop loving her. Even in the body of a teenager, she was always on my mind, always in my dreams. It was like she haunted me."

Grace's body tightened in fear. This was it, he was going to tell her what she already knew. He was going to tell her it wasn't her he loved, but her mother. She blinked several times, refusing to allow the tears their appearance.

"Even after I got over the whole age-thing, I still compared every woman I met to Carter, and no one ever measured up. It got to the point where I was just willing to give up dating. I didn't want a girlfriend, I didn't want a one-night stand, I didn't want a marriage, I wanted Carter. And, if I couldn't have her, I didn't want anyone."

Grace swallowed the lump in her throat and hoarsely added, "And then I came along."

Jack looked up at her, for the first time seeing the distraught look on her face, he nodded, his lips twitching up, but never quite forming a smile. "And then you came along. And you were everything I wanted. You were essentially, Carter. It was like a dream-come-true. That first time we made love, it was as if all of my dreams and fantasies had finally come true."

Grace just nodded, the knot in her stomach, cotton in her mouth, and brick in her throat not allowing for any words to come out. This was it, her heart was about to be broken beyond repair. Thoughts of jumping up and fleeing before he said the words sprang to mind, but she knew this was what she deserved. She never should have used her mother to get to him, and now it was about to blow up in her face. She deserved this.

"But, as I got to know you more, I could easily point out the things about you that weren't Carter. I had known her so well, they were easy to spot. You are so much like her, but there is so much of you that is just you as well. And, when your mom retook human form, she looked almost just like she did the last time I saw her, and my heart jumped into my throat."

Grace felt the tears winning the battle behind her eyes.

"And then I saw the original holding her hand, and I was pissed."

A tear escaped Grace's eye, but she held the impending sob down with everything she had. She would NOT cry, she would not!

"I was pissed because it was him who took my happiness away. It was because of him that I lost you." Jack looked up at Grace, her face red, and tears sliding down her cheeks. Looking her in the eyes, refusing to let her look away, he continued. "It was then that I realized that the love I felt for Carter was nothing like what I feel for you. Those little differences between you two, it was those that had made me fall in love with you, Grace. I will always love and respect your mom, she was a huge part of my life before I was cloned, but it is you who I can't live without. The happiest moment of my life was when that test said there was no match in our DNA."

And the sob escaped. Grace covered her mouth with her hand, but it was useless, the tears and sobs kept coming. He loved her! He wasn't calling it off, he was professing his love. Grace couldn't stop crying.

Jack laughed at the sight of her, so adorable, crying her heart out. Her hair was all askew, her tank top crooked on her chest, her eyes puffy and red, her face streaked in tears. She was beautiful.

Wiping her face, Grace wrapped her arms around Jack's neck and pulled him down for a kiss that made his knees weak.

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	11. Chapter 11

a/n: Thank you everyone for all the wonderful reviews with this story. I hope the ending pleases everyone, I have a lot on my mind, and had to hurry to get this up, so if it isn't superb, or if I left out an answer to something, I apologize. I really tried to tie up all loose ends and finish the story well. I will be back in a few months hopefully. Thank you again everyone for your support and praise.

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**Chapter Eleven:**

Grace and Jack Jr. arrived at work and set up an appointment for Grace with Dr. Patterson. When they left her office, Jack glanced down the corridor each way, not seeing anyone, he wrapped his arm around Grace and pulled her in for a kiss. "I'll see you in a few hours," he told her when they finally pulled away.

Grace nodded, her face bright in happiness. She turned and sauntered down the hallway, knowing she had never been as happy as she was right now.

She found her mother in the infirmary, and after grabbing a muffin, orange juice, and a cup of coffee, sat down to get to know the woman who gave birth to her.

Sam smiled warmly when Grace sat down. "No Jack," Grace asked, the mischievous smile lighting up her face.

Sam's smile grew. "He just left, went to go bug your boyfriend."

Grace laughed. Okay, her mother won that round.

"So, tell me about your life," Sam started, her eyes intently on her daughter.

Grace shrugged. "Not too much to tell. After you…..died, dad moved us to Denver. He had Renee, his ex-wife, help with me, and they remarried."

Sam nodded, happy that Pete had found his happiness.

"Then they had three daughters of their own, Chelsea, Madison, and Brooklyn. They all three look and act alike. I was the oddball of the family."

"I can imagine," Sam quietly replied.

Grace took a drink of her orange juice. "Really, my life was basically boring before I came to work here. I zipped through school, they had me in a school for the gifted, thanks to you and your memories, of course," Grace said, grinning at her mother, and tapping herself on the head. "I went to college, excelled there, then got a job in Denver before the president asked me to work here."

"So, you had a good life?" Sam asked, desperately wanting to know that she did.

Grace nodded and smiled warmly at her mother. "Basically, yeah," she replied. Her petty fights with her dad were just that, petty fights, and her mother had enough guilt on her plate for being gone 23 years, she didn't need to know about them. "Are you going to let dad know you're alive?" Grace asked.

Sam grimaced and took a sip from her coffee, setting it down, she replied. "I think so. I think he deserves to know. We have a child together, and even if he wasn't remarried, I wouldn't be going back to him, but still, he has a right to know. I suppose I'll have to set something up with Jack and get him to meet me somewhere privately."

Grace nodded. "What about you? Where are you going to live now?"

Sam bit her bottom lip. "We don't know for sure. The president is still working on a few things, but we might move to Jack's cabin. It's secluded, so we're less likely to run into anyone we know. But, I do believe we are going back out to help with finishing the war first."

Grace nodded in understanding. If there was one thing she learned from her mother's memories, it was that she was dedicated to her job.

"Do you have photographs?" Sam asked, looking at Grace. "Of you, growing up, I'd love to see them."

Grace smiled. "Yeah, I do. A bunch. Renee was into scrap booking , so I have about five books she sent with me when I moved out, and she has several more that she kept."

Sam's smile turned to a look of sadness momentarily. "So, Renee, she took good care of you?"

Grace smiled at her mother, recognizing the woman's worry. "Yeah, she was great. I'm closer to her than dad, but she's not my mother, and we both understood that when I was growing up. She was wonderful to me, she scolded me when I needed it, nursed me when I was sick, lectured me about dating and boys, but she never once overstepped her boundaries as a step mom. We both respected each other and we're great friends, but I never felt the connection to her that I've always felt to you."

Sam fought back tears. Her daughter had grown up to be this beautiful, competent, remarkable woman and she had missed it all. It was enough to make anyone cry, and yet, as sad as she felt that she had missed out on so much of Grace's life, she had never felt more proud of anyone than she did of Grace at that very moment.

Sam glanced down at her watch. "Oh, it's almost time for your appointment."

Grace frowned. Surprised that so much time had passed. Standing up, the two women dumped their trash in the bin and headed to Dr. Patterson's office.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Because so many people wanted to witness the hypnosis, Dr. Patterson moved them to one of the observation rooms, so those who wanted to watch, could observe from the observation deck above.

After Grace was all settled nice and cozy in the chair, the doctor dimmed the lights and started the soothing talking that put Grace into a light state of unconsciousness.

"Grace, I want you to dig into those memories in your mind that are not your own. Can you reach them?"

"Yes," Grace replied in a monotone voice.

"Good. Now, tell me, what is the last memory you have that is not your own?"

Grace scrunched her face up as if she were trying to pull up the information. "Janet died," she cried. "She died! The colonel was hit. OH MY GOD! He went down! He was hit right in the chest!" Grace screamed.

"Grace! Grace! Go past that. Fast forward, tell me, what happened after that."

Grace's heavy breathing continued for a few seconds longer and Jack Jr. was ready to call the whole thing off from his spot in the observation deck.

"The colonel, he was getting dressed. I felt guilty because my best friend was dead, and I was happy that I hadn't lost the colonel. I felt so guilty! And we hugged, and I cried on his shoulder, and all I wanted was to be in his arms forever, for him to take all the pain and guilt away."

Sam looked over at Jack, and he pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the forehead. "Always," he whispered in her ear so only she could hear. She squeezed his knee gently in response, her own emotions in turmoil as she listened to them retold.

"And do you remember what happened after that?" Dr. Patterson asked.

Grace grimaced again. "Janet's memorial. Teal'c helped me with the speech. It was the hardest thing I ever had to write…."

"Jack," Cassie called out, stepping into the observation room. "I need to talk to you."

"Right now?" Jack Jr. asked.

Cassie nodded apprehensively. "It's important. Please. It will only be a few minutes."

Jack Jr. sighed and stood up. He looked down at Jack and Sam still sitting. "Let me know if anything substantial happens."

Jack and Sam both nodded and Jack left the observation deck with Cassie. Turning their attention back to the room, they discovered the doctor had Grace remembering something else now.

"I went home, Cassie was staying with some friends, I was exhausted. NO! LET ME GO!" she cried out.

"What is it, Grace?" Dr. Patterson asked in concern.

"What are you doing? Why am I tied down?" she continued on, ignoring the doctor as she relived a suppressed memory. "We're friends with the Asgaard, why are you holding me against my will?"

Sam closed her eyes in the observation deck, the suppressed memory reemerging in her own mind. "Oh my God! Loki!" she whispered as the memory broke through and flooded her mind.

Jack Jr. followed Cassie to the next room over that was empty. "What is it, Cassie?" he asked impatiently.

"This," she said, handing him Grace's DNA results.

"Yeah, so, we already saw these yesterday."

"Yes, we did, but no one noticed it only popped up one match for Grace."

Jack shook his head in impatience. "And, so? She's not Jack's, that's a good thing."

"No, she only pulled up ONE match. We have Pete Shanahan's DNA on file from when he was a patient here. His name did not come up."

"That was over 26 years ago, Cass, it's likely the computer had a glitch or something."

"No, Jack, you don't get it. I ran a match on Grace and Sam's DNA, it was a one hundred percent match."

Jack narrowed his eyes at Cassie. "What does that mean?"

"It means that Sam is the ONLY parent to Grace."

Jack let out a long sigh. "Clone?" he asked.

"It's possible. But, the Asgaard don't normally go around impregnating women with their own clones, that I know of, anyways," Cassie replied.

Jack sighed again. "You're sure this time?"

Cassie nodded, a little disappointed that he had to ask. "Yes, I double checked, several times in fact. I even looked at the strands myself. They're identical."

Jack nodded. "Thanks, Cass."

Cassie nodded back. "Want me to go with you?"

"No, I can handle it," he told her and then turned to head back to the observation deck.

When he got there, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. Jack and Sam were both standing up, Sam was crying and talking very fast to Jack, who had a sour look on his face.

Grace was down in the room, fully awake, an astonished look on her face. Jack took one look at her, and fled the deck to join her in the observation room.

"What's going on?" he asked as soon as he reached her.

Grace wrapped her arms around him, needing his presence to help her through what she had just found out through her mother's memories.

"It was Loki," she whispered into his neck. "He created me."

Jack just nodded, already having a pretty good idea of that after talking with Cassie. "Cassie just confirmed that you're a clone," he said softly.

Grace nodded against his chest. "He took her and impregnated her with her own clone. He thought our reproductive capabilities could help them with theirs. He knew it was only a short amount of time before the High Council discovered what he was doing, and he wanted to run as many tests as he could. He cloned you, wanting to know about your Ancient gene, and he created me to look into the possibility of creating clones through human reproduction, in order to continue cloning without weakening their DNA. Mom fought against him, and he told her he needed her conscious so she was aware of who I was and could help him with his experiment, but she resisted, so he had to make her unconscious. The procedure he used to knock her out, was what he used on other experiments. It suppresses your most recent memories. Mom had no idea what he had done to her when she woke up pregnant. A few days later, I'm guessing, Loki was caught and that is why the experiment was never finished."

Jack Jr. looked as pissed as the original. "We'll get to the bottom of this, I swear," he told her, hugging her tightly against him.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

It was a few days later when two Jack O'Neill's entered the prison area on a flourishing Asgaard world. "O'Neill," Thor spoke. "Loki is within the third chamber down. Do you wish my accompaniment?"

"No, that's okay, Thor, we can take it from here," Jack Sr. replied, walking shoulder to shoulder down the corridor with his clone.

The door opened as soon as they were in front of it and the two men entered.

It is hard to read the facial expressions of Asgaards, even when they are surprised or annoyed, but reading Loki was a walk in the park. The short, gray-skinned convict was frightened.

"O'Neill, what do I owe this visit?" the Asgaard asked, keeping his place against the far wall of the very small room.

"Oh, I think you know," Jack Sr. replied, glaring at the small alien.

Jack Jr. was sure he saw the Asgaard shake. "Why did you clone and impregnate Carter?"

"It was an experiment. Major Carter had pledged to help us in our reproductive issues, I was just allowing her that chance."

"By knocking her up with her own clone!" Jack Sr. roared.

Loki blinked. "If it was a success, it could save the Asgaard race from extinction."

Neither Jack knew of an appropriate comeback.

"You still could have told her!" Jack Sr. finally retorted.

"It had been my intention all along. However, Major Carter would not listen to my explanation. I had no choice but to erase her memory of the procedure in order to keep her from informing the high council."

Both Jack's were now openly glaring at the tiny Asgaard.

"I implanted all of Major Carter's memories into the clone so the clone would be aware of the experiment. Because she was being reproduced as an infant, it was imperative that the memories would only surface with triggers."

"Triggers?" both Jack's asked in unison.

"Indeed. As the clone came into contact with people and places that were important to Major Carter, they would trigger those memories to reemerge within the clone. It would only take a matter of time before all of Major Carter's memories surfaced and revealed the experiment. In truth, I was expecting this visit many years ago."

Jack Jr. coughed. "Yeah, well, Carter's been gone for the past 23 years and Grace's supposed dad removed anything that triggered a memory."

"I see," Loki replied, his eyes as large as they could possibly be. "That was not a possibility I foresaw. I assumed the clone would receive her mother's memories before she reached puberty. I was hoping to examine her when she was still a child. This is very disheartening news."

Both Jack's were ready to strangle the convicted alien. "Examine her?" Jack Jr. roared. "She's a person! She has her own thoughts, her own feelings, she's not a god damned experiment!"

Loki blinked.

Jack Sr. sighed. "So, Grace is okay. There is no ticking time bomb about to go off inside her?"

Loki blinked again and turned his head towards the elder Jack. "The clone should be perfectly normal. I removed the protein marker from her DNA before implanting her in Major Carter's womb. She is a normal human being."

"And, you're never going to mess with any Carter again?" Jack Sr. added.

Loki blinked. "My imprisonment period is for another three hundred years."

"Good!" both Jack's replied.

They both turned and filed out of the cramped quarters.

"Did you receive your answers, O'Neill?" Thor asked.

"Yup, sure did, buddy, thanks."

Thor lowered his head in return. "Is there anything else I may assist you with?"

"Just take us to the ladies," Jack replied.

"Indeed, right this way. They have been most fascinated with our new ship, the MiniO'Neill."

Jack Sr. rolled his eyes. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" While Jack Jr. grinned in pride.

"Kinda has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" he teased his older counterpart.

"I believe it was you who named your clone with this name, O'Neill," Thor replied.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Do you little guys have the capability to forget _anything?_"

Jack Jr. chuckled as they approached the two Carters.

Jack Sr. wrapped his arm around Sam, pulling her close and kissing her as if he hadn't seen her in a year.

Jack Jr. did the same to Grace.

"So, what did he say?" Grace asked.

"He admitted to doing it. He gave you the memories thinking you would get them at a much younger age and would tell Sam, who would get in contact with the Asgaard."

Grace grinned. "But that didn't happen."

Jack Jr. nuzzled her hair. "No, it didn't, and you are perfectly normal. Do you want to talk to him?"

Grace thought about it for a minute. Originally, she had come to the Asgaard home world to see the alien who had created her, but now, knowing she was going to be okay, she was going to continue her life as Grace, she no longer felt the need to confront him. "No, I'm good. I think I actually want to go home."

"You sure?" Jack Jr. asked.

Grace smiled warmly at the man she loved. "Yes, Jack, take me home."

And he did.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Five Years Later:**

Grace hugged her step mom good-bye. "Thanks for lunch," she told the older woman.

"Anytime. I'm so happy you all stopped by for a short visit before heading up to Minnesota," Renee replied, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Well, you know," Jack teased from next to Grace. "Got to visit the in-laws, and all."

Renee smiled at her son-in-law. "And don't you forget that!" she ordered, mockingly glaring at him.

Grace looked across the yard. "Carter! Are you ready to go?" she yelled to her three year old son.

The small boy hugged his three aunts good-bye and then launched himself into Grandpa Pete's arms. "Bye-Bye Grandpa!"

"Good-bye Carter, have fun at the cabin."

"I will."

And then, quieter, so no one else would hear, whispered in his grandson's ear. "Tell Grandma Sam I said, Hi."

"Okay, grandpa. But, I'll have to say it when she's alone cuz last time, Grandpa Jack teased her 'bout it."

Pete laughed. "Yeah, but he just does that to be funny. He knows he has your grandma's heart completely."

"Nuh-uh, I have some of grandma's heart too, she told me!" Carter protested.

Pete grinned. "Yes, you do. And, you have mine too."

Carter grinned and gave his grandpa one more hug before running back to his parents. After kissing his Grandma Rene good-bye, he hopped into his car seat, and Jack buckled him in.

"Dad," Grace said as Pete approached her.

"Grace," he greeted back. "Make sure that husband of yours drives carefully."

Grace giggled. "Are you kidding? He drives like an old lady when Carter's in the car."

"Good, that's what I want to hear," Pete replied, then stepped up and hugged the woman who would forever be his daughter. They had explained everything to him, and he didn't care. So, there wasn't anything of him in her, he basically already sensed that as he raised her, but he didn't care. The fact was, he had raised her, and she would always be his little girl, no matter what.

He had said what he needed to say to Sam, finally letting that part of his heart heal, and it had actually resulted in him having a better relationship with Grace. No longer was he frightened for her, worried for her constantly. He had done everything he could to protect her when she was growing up, and he had made some bad choices, but it had always been done out of love, and Grace understood that.

She had made the decision to continue to accept Pete as her dad. She even kept the name Shanahan until she married Jack and officially became an O'Neill. And the rest of the O'Neill's, Jack Jr., Jack Sr., and her mom, were ecstatic when she informed them shortly thereafter that she would soon be bringing another O'Neill into the family.

She had a sonogram at the SGC and Sam and Jack had insisted on being present during it. The war was finally, officially over, and Jack and Sam had spent a lot of time helping to rebuild off-world, but made sure they were there to see their grandchild for the first time, even if it was just on a screen.

When Cassie told them it was a boy, both Jack's simultaneously exclaimed, "Name him Carter!"

Sam had vehemently complained, but in the end, the name grew on Grace, and a few months later, Carter Jacob O'Neill joined the O'Neill family.

Grace pulled back from her dad. "Love you, dad," she whispered, smiling at her father.

"I love you too, kiddo," he told her, opening up the passenger door for her. "O'Neill, take care of my daughter and grandson."

"For the rest of my life, Pete," he replied sincerely. They had decided it was best to let Pete continue to believe that Jack was Jack's son and not a clone like Grace.

Pete nodded and slapped the top of the car just as Jack started up the engine and pulled away from the curb.

"That was a nice visit," he told Grace as soon as they were a little ways down the road.

"Yeah," Grace replied. "It was. I can't believe Chelsea's getting married. I can't wait for her wedding…"

The next morning they pulled their car up behind an old truck in the drive way of the cabin. Carter, the smart little three year old that he was, unhooked his car seat and hopped out of the car. He ran around the cabin to the back where he knew he would find his Grandpa Jack.

"Grandpa, Grandma! We're here!" he yelled.

Jack turned on the dock just in time to catch the three year old. "Carter! My man! How's it going?"

"Great!" Carter cheered. "We get to spend the whole week with you!"

"I know it," Jack replied enthusiastically. "Your grandma went shopping and bought all your favorite snacks."

"Yay!" Carter cheered again.

"My thoughts exactly," Jack replied. "I'm in the mood for cake."

"Me too!" Carter squealed.

Sam walked out, wiping her hands on her shirt. "Cake's on the table," she replied, snatching up her grandson for a kiss. "I've missed you!" she told him, hugging him tightly.

"I missed you too, grandma!" he told her, giving her a kiss. "Grandpa Pete said, hi."

Jack glared at his grandson. "Didn't we already talk about this midget messenger service?"

Carter laughed. "Can we go have cake now?"

Sam opened the door and the two O'Neill's rushed in.

That night, Sam found Jack sitting next to Carter, staring at the young boy asleep in his bed. She walked in and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "What are you thinking?" she whispered.

Jack wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and pulled her closer to him. He shrugged. "Just thinking about how much he looks like Charlie."

"He does, very much so," she softly replied, looking at her grandson with open admiration. "It's a pretty good theory that our child will too."

"What child?" Jack said absently.

Sam moved one of his arms so his hand was over her abdomen. "The one in here," she told him, keeping eye contact with the man she had loved for so long.

Jack looked at her in disbelief. "You're, you're, are you sure?" he stuttered out.

Sam grinned. "Yeah, I wanted to tell you before now, but….I was nervous."

Jack stood up and pulled Sam to him. "I love you," he cried into her shoulder.

Sam cried with him. They had never expected to have a child of their own. They had convinced themselves that they were content watching their clones raise Carter, but the truth was, they both craved a chance to be parents again. They had both been cheated out of the opportunity to watch their children grow, and they both still mourned that loss.

"Damn," Jack said a moment later when they had separated.

"What?" Sam asked, worry appearing on her face.

"They already got the name Carter."

Sam shook her head and let out a small laugh. "Good, because I never would have given in like Grace."

They walked out of their grandson's room, hand-in-hand. "Oh come on, you know it's a great name."

The End.


End file.
